Discrimination of jittered sonar echoes by the echolocating bat,Eptesicus fuscus: The shape of target images in echolocation

1. Behavioral experiments with jittering echoes examined acoustic images of sonar targets in the echolocating bat, Eptesicus fuscus, along the echo delay or target range axis. Echo phase, amplitude, bandwidth, and signal-to-noise ratio were manipulated to assess the underlying auditory processes for image formation. 2. Fine delay acuity is about 10 ns. Calibration and control procedures indicate that this represents temporal acuity rather than spectral discrimination. Jitter discrimination curves change in phase when the phase of one jittering echo is shifted by 180 degrees relative to the other, showing that echo phase is involved in delay estimation. At an echo detectability index of about 36 dB, fine acuity is 40 ns, which is approximately as predicted for the delay accuracy of an ideal receiver. 3. Compound performance curves for 0 degrees and 180 degrees phase conditions match the crosscorrelation function of the echoes. The locations of both 0 degrees and 180 degrees phase peaks in the performance curves shift along the time axis by an amount that matches neural amplitude-latency trading in Eptesicus, confirming a temporal basis for jitter discrimination.     

The effect of pulse repetition rate on the delay sensitivity of neurons in the auditory cortex of the FM bat,Myotis lucifugus

1. Echo delay is the primary cue used by echolocating bats to determine target range. During target-directed flight, the repetition rate of pulse emission increases systematically as range decreases. Thus, we examined the delay tuning of 120 neurons in the auditory cortex of the bat, Myotis lucifugus, as repetition rate was varied. 2. Delay sensitivity was exhibited in 77% of the neurons over different ranges of pulse repetition rates (PRRs). Delay tuning typically narrowed and eventually disappeared at higher PRRs. 3. Two major types of delay-sensitive neurons were found: i) delay-tuned neurons (59%) had a single fixed best delay, while ii) tracking neurons (22%) changed their best delay with PRR. 4. PRRs from 1-100/s were represented by the population of delay-sensitive neurons, with the majority of neurons delay-sensitive at PRRs of at least 10-20/s. Thus, delay-dependent neurons in Myotis are most active during the search phase of echolocation. 5. Delay-sensitive neurons that also responded to single sounds were common. At PRRs where delay sensitivity was found, the responses to single sounds were reduced and the responses to pulse-echo pairs at particular delays were greater than the single-sound responses. In facilitated neurons (53%), the maximal delay-dependent response was always larger than the best single-sound responses, whereas in enhanced neurons (47%), these responses were comparable. The presence of neurons that respond maximally to single sounds at one PRR and to pulse-echo pairs with particular echo delays at other PRRs suggests that these neurons perform echo-ranging in conjunction with other biosonar functions during target pursuit.     

The orientation behaviour of the lesser spearnosed bat, Phyllostomus discolor (Chiroptera) in a model roost

The orientation behaviour of bats (Phyllostomus discolor, Phyllostomidae), flying inside an octagonal roost-like chamber (ø: 100cm; h: 150cm) was examined.It has been shown that the bats begin turning manoeuvres during flight by turning their head towards the direction they intend to proceed to. During early phases of the flights, cumulative navigation errors were evident, indicating that endogenous spatial information plays a major role in the orientation of the bats. During later phases of the flight this error is diminished again. So it can be concluded that the bats start to use exogenous spatial information for orientation while approaching the target.In order to investigate the relative importance of vision, echolocation and endogenous spatial information for approaching the roost, the landing lattices inside the test arena were changed for non-grid dummies. We found that: 1. combined visual and endogenous information are more important than echoacoustical cues, 2. the bats learned quickly to switch their orientation behaviour in order to get a better performance in avoiding the dummies, 3. the learning performance was influenced by the visual similarity of dummies and the real landing lattice.     

Electromotility of outer hair cells from the cochlea of the echolocating bat,Carollia perspicillata

Isolated outer hair cells (OHCs) and explants ot the organ of Corti were obtained from the cochlea of the echolocating bat, Carollia perspicillata, whose hearing range extends up to about 100 kHz. The OHCs were about 10–30 m long and produced resting potentials between-30 to -69 mV. During stimulation with a sinusoidal extracellular voltage field (voltage gradient of 2 mV/m) cyclic length changes were observed in isolated OHCs. The displacements were most prominent at the level of the cell nucleus and the cuticular plate. In the organ of Corti explants, the extracellular electric field induced a radial movement of the cuticular plate which was observed using video subtraction and photodiode techniques. Maximum displacements of about 0.3–0.8 m were elicited by stimulus frequencies below 100 Hz. The displacement amplitude decreased towards the noise level of about 10–30 nm for stimulus frequencies between 100–500 Hz, both in apical and basal explants. This compares well with data from the guinea pig, where OHC motility induced by extracellular electrical stimulation exhibits a low pass characteristic with a corner frequency below 1 kHz. The data indicate that fast OHC movements presumably are quite small at ultrasonic frequencies and it remains to be solved how they participate in amplifying and sharpening cochlear responses in vivo.Abbreviations BM basilar membrane - FFT fast Fourier Transfer - IHC inner hair cell - OHC outer hair cell     

Complex sound analysis in the lesser bulldog bat: evidence for a mechanism for processing frequency elements of frequency modulated signals over restricted time intervals

A stereotypical approach phase vocalization response of the lesser bulldog bat, Noctilio albiventris, to artificial echoes simulating a virtual approaching object was used to assess the ability of the bat to analyze and extract distance information from the artificial echoes. The performance of the bat was not significantly different when presented with naturally structured CF/FM echoes containing FM elements that sweep continuously from about 75-55 kHz in 4 ms or with CF/FM echoes containing FM components constructed from a series of 98 pure tone frequency steps, each with a duration of 0.04 ms. The performance of the bat remained unchanged when the duration of the tone steps was increased up to 0.08 ms but declined sharply to a level that was significantly below that seen with a naturally structured echo when the steps were 0.09 ms or longer. The performance of the bat depended on the duration of the individual tone steps, which could not exceed a specific upper limit of about 0.08 ms. The study suggests that the bats have adaptations for processing individual narrow band segments of FM signals over specific time intervals.Abbreviations CF constant frequency - FM frequency modulation     

Passive sound localization of prey by the pallid bat (Antrozous p. pallidus)

Summary The pallid bat (Antrozous p. pallidus) uses passive sound localization to capture terrestrial prey. This study of captive pallid bats examined the roles of echolocation and passive sound localization in prey capture, and focused on their spectral requirements for accurate passive sound localization.Crickets were used as prey throughout these studies. All tests were conducted in dim, red light in an effort to preclude the use of vision. Hunting performance did not differ significantly in red light and total darkness, nor did it differ when visual contrast between the terrestrial prey and the substrate was varied, demonstrating that the bats did not use vision to locate prey.Our bats apparently used echolocation for general orientation, but not to locate prey. They did not increase their pulse emission rate prior to prey capture, suggesting that they were not actively scanning prey. Instead, they required prey-generated sounds for localization. The bats attended to the sound of walking crickets for localization, and also attacked small, inanimate objects dragged across the floor. Stationary and/or anesthetized crickets were ignored, as were crickets walking on substrates that greatly attenuated walking sounds. Cricket communication sounds were not used in prey localization; the bats never captured stationary, calling crickets.The accuracy of their passive sound localization was tested with an open-loop passive sound localization task that required them to land upon an anesthetized cricket tossed on the floor. The impact of a cricket produced a single 10–20 ms duration sound, yet with this information, the bats were able to land within 7.6 cm of the cricket from a maximum distance of 4.9 m. This performance suggests a sound localization accuracy of approximately ±1° in the horizontal and vertical dimensions of auditory space. The lower frequency limit for accurate sound localization was between 3–8 kHz. A physiological survey of frequency representation in the pallid bat inferior colliculus suggests that this lower frequency limit is around 5 kHz.     

Frequency modulated sound pattern analysis in the lesser bulldog bat: the role of interactions between adjacent frequency elements of complex sounds

A stereotyped approach phase vocalization response of Noctilio albiventris to artificial echoes simulating a virtual approaching object was used to assess the ability of the bat to analyze and extract distance information from the artificial echoes. The performance of the bats depended on the temporal pattern of frequency change of the continuously sweeping frequency modulated (FM) component of the signals. When the bats were presented with a CF/FM signal containing a time-reversed upward FM sweep, they responded with approach phase behavior at a performance level that was significantly below that seen with a CF/FM signal containing a naturally structured downward FM sweep. When the FM sweep was divided into a series of brief pure tone steps, the extent to which the bats showed a difference in their capability to process upward versus downward FM sweeps depended on the difference in frequency between the pure tone steps. The bats effectively processed downward but not upward FM sweeps when the difference in frequency between pure tone frequency elements of the FM sweeps was from about 100–200 Hz, but they effectually processed both downward and upward FM sweeps when the tonal elements composing the FM sweeps were separated by more than about 200 Hz. This suggests that the ability of the bats to effectively process downward but not upward FM sweeps is based on local interactions between adjacent frequency elements of the complex sounds.Abbreviations CF constant frequency - FM frequency modulated     

江西省翼手目新记录-绯鼠耳蝠

绯鼠耳蝠(Myotis formosus)采自江西吉安井冈山市梨坪村石燕洞(26°35′99″N,114°12′46″E)。该地区年平均气温14℃,年均降雨量1865mm,属中亚热带湿润性气候。当地日落时间19∶20。该地植被覆盖率高达70%以上,生物资源丰富,主要以毛竹(Phyllostachys hterocycla)、杉木(Cunninghamia lanceolata)和木荷(SchimaSuperba)为主,其中毛竹为优势种群。在江西发现绯鼠耳蝠的分布,丰富了该物种在中国的分布,为进一步的研究和保护提供基本依据。1研究方法1·1样本采集和鉴定傍晚19∶00左右,在石燕洞洞口张网捕捉蝙蝠,然后进行体形和头骨测量。…     

短嘴金丝燕回声定位叫声特征

2012年6月,对湖南省石门县壶瓶山国家级自然保护区神景洞短嘴金丝燕的回声定位叫声进行研究,在黑暗山洞内使用录音仪器录制其自由飞行状态的声音后使用声音软件进行分析.短嘴金丝燕捕食归巢时,快速飞入洞口,在洞内有光区域不发声,到达洞内黑暗区域后开始发出回声定位叫声,且飞行速度减慢.声音分析结果表明其回声定位叫声为双脉冲组的噪声脉冲串型(noise burst),组内脉冲间隔很短[(6.6±0.42)ms],组间脉冲间隔较长[(99.3±3.86) ms],两者差异显著(P＜0.01).对比第一、第二脉冲声音参数发现,主频和脉冲时程差异不显著,第一、第二脉冲主频分别为(6.2±0.08) kHz和(6.2±0.10) kHz (P＞0.05);脉冲时程分别为(2.9±0.12) ms和(3.2±0.17) ms (P＞0.05);最高和最低频率差异显著,第一、第二脉冲最高频率分别为(20.1±1.10) kHz和(15.4±0.98) kHz (P＜0.01),最低频率分别为(3.7±0.12) kHz和(4.0±0.09)kHz (P＜0.05);第一脉冲频宽((16.5±1.17) kHz)宽于第二脉冲((11.4±1.01) kHz) (P＜0.01);且第一脉冲能量[(-32.5±0.60) dB]高于第二脉冲[(-35.2±0.94) dB] (P＜0.05).另外,短嘴金丝燕在黑暗山洞内的回声定位叫声还包含了部分超声波,最高频率可达33.2 kHz.