Search results for "echolocation"

Contrasting Effects of Chronic Anthropogenic Disturbance on Activity and Species Richness of Insectivorous Bats in Neotropical Dry Forest

2022

For prioritizing conservation actions, it is vital to understand how ecologically diverse species respond to environmental change caused by human activity. This is particularly necessary considering that chronic human disturbance is a threat to biodiversity worldwide. Depending on how species tolerate and adapt to such disturbance, ecological integrity and ecosystem services will be more or less affected. Bats are a species-rich and functionally diverse group, with important roles in ecosystems, and are therefore recognized as a good model group for assessing the impact of environmental change. Their populations have decreased in several regions, especially in the tropics, and are threatene…

Fly-and-Forage Strategy in the Bat Pipistrellus nathusii During Autumn Migration

2012

Populations of Pipistrellus nathusii (Nathusius's bat), an insectivorous aerial-hawking species that breeds in north-eastern Europe, perform long-distance migrations between breeding sites and hibernation areas in central and southern Europe. The feeding strategy of migrating P. nathusii was investigated in Latvia on the east coast of the Baltic Sea, exploring evidence for and against two non-mutually exclusive predictions that i) the bats feed shortly after dusk at highest aerial insect activity and continue to migrate thereafter or ii) apply a ‘fly-and-forage’ strategy and frequently interrupt their migration flight to feed. Echolocation calls and feeding buzzes of P. nathusii were record…

Echolocating Whales and Bats Express the Motor Protein Prestin in the Inner Ear: A Potential Marker for Hearing Loss.

2020

Prestin is an integral membrane motor protein located in outer hair cells of the mammalian cochlea. It is responsible for electromotility and required for cochlear amplification. Although prestin works in a cycle-by-cycle mode up to frequencies of at least 79 kHz, it is not known whether or not prestin is required for the extreme high frequencies used by echolocating species. Cetaceans are known to possess a prestin coding gene. However, the expression and distribution pattern of the protein in the cetacean cochlea has not been determined, and the contribution of prestin to echolocation has not yet been resolved. Here we report the expression of the protein prestin in five species of echolo…

Echolocation signals of the plecotine bat, Plecotus macrobullaris Kuzyakin, 1965

2006

Plecotus macrobullaris was recorded in an alpine region in Switzerland. Like other species of the genus Plecotus, P. macrobullaris emitted multiharmonic, downward frequency-modulated signals consisting mostly of the 1st and the lower part of the 2nd harmonic. Signal structure depended on the distance to the background. The shortest signals (0.8 ms) were recorded close to the background. The first harmonic began at about 46 kHz and ended around 23 kHz. Signals were emitted in groups. The longest signals (up to 7.3 ms) were recorded above a meadow, far from background targets. These signals, which were more shallowly modulated, started at about 42 kHz and ended around 15 kHz. They occasionall…

2017

AbstractDespite dedicated research has been carried out to adequately map the distribution of the sperm whale in the Mediterranean Sea, unlike other regions of the world, the species population status is still presently uncertain. The analysis of two years of continuous acoustic data provided by the ANTARES neutrino telescope revealed the year-round presence of sperm whales in the Ligurian Sea, probably associated with the availability of cephalopods in the region. The presence of the Ligurian Sea sperm whales was demonstrated through the real-time analysis of audio data streamed from a cabled-to-shore deep-sea observatory that allowed the hourly tracking of their long-range echolocation be…

Schallreaktionen bei Nachtfaltern

1949

Numerous Noctuides and Geometrides show quite mistakable reactions upon sound stimulations ranging from 10,000 to 20,0000 vib/sec (Hertz). The lowest limit range of perception seems to lie at 40,000 up to 80,000 vib/sec. The reactions of sitting or walking animals are instant movements of flight or catalepsy. Flying animals try evasion or stop their flight at once. Sleeping animals can not be roused by sound stimulation. There are no sound reactions if both tympani are pierced. The Noctuides and Geometrides seem to perceive the supersonic echolocation cries of bats by aid of their tympanal organs.