02317nas a2200217 4500008004100000022001300041245011300054210006900167260001600236300001400252490000800266520167100274100001401945700001601959700001701975700001701992700001902009700001402028700001602042856004102058 2019 eng d a0003347200aPerformance of Doppler shift compensation in bats varies with species rather than with environmental clutter0 aPerformance of Doppler shift compensation in bats varies with sp cJan-12-2019 a109 - 1200 v1583 a

The performance of vocal motor control is crucial for vocal communication; however, its evolution and ecological drivers are largely unknown. Doppler shift compensation (DSC), which has been found only in bats, represents an excellent model for studying the mechanisms and evolution of vocal control. We tested whether species that are more dependent on DSC for pulse–echo separation have a more precise DSC and whether changes in environmental clutter would result in adjustments in DSC performance. We recorded the echolocation and flight behaviour of the greater horseshoe bat, Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, and the great leaf-nosed bat, Hipposideros armiger, flying through a corridor and a window in turn. The DSC precision in H. armiger was significantly lower than that of R. ferrumequinum; the offset between the reference frequency and resting frequency, however, was not significantly different between the two species. We also studied the DSC of H. armiger flying through windows of different sizes. Their flight speed decreased significantly with reduced window size. However, DSC precision and the offset did not vary significantly with window size. Our results suggest that DSC is more precise in rhinolophids, which have a higher demand for pulse–echo separation by DSC, than in hipposiderids. Changes in environmental clutter do not necessarily result in adjustments of DSC performance. Functional importance associated with high-performance vocal control may be critical in shaping the precision of vocal control in the course of evolution. Instead, habitat clutter encountered by vocalizing animals may not play an important role.

1 aZhang, Yu1 aLin, Aiqing1 aDing, Jianan1 aYang, Xinyao1 aJiang, Tinglei1 aLiu, Ying1 aFeng, Jiang uhttps://bio.acousti.ca/da/node/5788402100nas a2200241 4500008004100000022001300041245010800054210006900162260001600231300001200247490000800259520136000267653002201627653002901649653002101678100001401699700001901713700001401732700001501746700001401761700001601775856006701791 2019 eng d a0003347200aAcoustic signalling of aggressive intent in the agonistic encounters of female Asian particoloured bats0 aAcoustic signalling of aggressive intent in the agonistic encoun cJan-03-2019 a65 - 750 v1493 a

The signals of animal aggressive intent can communicate aggression levels to competitors, thereby settling conflicts at an early stage and thus reducing energy costs. We tested whether aggressive vocalizations of female Asian particoloured bats, Vespertilio sinensis, encode aggressive intent during agonistic encounters that occur whenever an intruder pushes a resident to obtain a more central roosting spot. Our results showed that the number of noisy/tonal syllables of the disturbed bats met the three criteria used to define aggressive intent. First, the number and ratio of tonal syllables were significantly greater when intruders continued to push, and the number and ratio of noisy syllables were significantly greater when they stopped pushing (context criterion). Second, skin temperature related to emotional arousal during aggressive interaction generally increased when intruders stopped pushing but was unchanged or decreased when they continued pushing (predictive criterion). Finally, bats preferentially selected stimuli with more tonal syllables, and they spent more time approaching more noisy syllables in a two-choice playback experiment (response criterion). Thus, we propose that the number of noisy/tonal syllables within aggressive vocalizations of female Asian particoloured bats functions to signal aggressive intent.

10aaggressive intent10aaggressive vocalizations10askin temperature1 aZhao, Xin1 aJiang, Tinglei1 aLiu, Heng1 aWang, Yuze1 aLiu, Ying1 aFeng, Jiang uhttps://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S000334721930013202507nas a2200253 4500008004100000022001400041245012300055210006900178260001600247520173100263653002701994653000902021653001002030653001702040653002102057100001902078700001502097700001602112700001202128700001702140700001602157700002402173856005602197 2019 eng d a1435-944800aBats increase vocal amplitude and decrease vocal complexity to mitigate noise interference during social communication0 aBats increase vocal amplitude and decrease vocal complexity to m cOct-01-20193 a

Natural background noises are common in the acoustic environments in which most organisms have evolved. Therefore, the vocalization and sound perception systems of vocal animals are inherently equipped to overcome natural background noise. Human-generated noises, however, pose new challenges that can hamper audiovocal communication. The mechanisms animals use to cope with anthropogenic noise disturbances have been extensively explored in a variety of taxa. Bats emit echolocation pulses primarily to orient, locate and navigate, while social calls are used to communicate with conspecifics. Previous studies have shown that bats alter echolocation pulse parameters in response to background noise interference. In contrast to high-frequency echolocation pulses, relatively low-frequency components within bat social calls overlap broadly with ambient noise frequencies. However, how bats structure their social calls in the presence of anthropogenic noise is not known. Here, we hypothesized that bats leverage vocal plasticity to facilitate vocal exchanges within a noisy environment. To test this hypothesis, we subjected the Asian particolored bat, Vespertilio sinensis, to prerecorded traffic noise. We observed a significant decrease in vocal complexity (i.e., an increased frequency of monosyllabic calls) in response to traffic noise. However, an increase in the duration and frequency of social calls, as have been observed in other species, was not evident. This suggests that signal simplification may increase communication efficacy in noisy environments. Moreover, V. sinensis also increased call amplitude in response to increased traffic noise, consistent with the predictions of the Lombard effect.

10aacoustic communication10abats10aNoise10aSocial calls10avocal plasticity1 aJiang, Tinglei1 aGuo, Xiong1 aLin, Aiqing1 aWu, Hui1 aSun, Congnan1 aFeng, Jiang1 aKanwal, Jagmeet, S. uhttp://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10071-018-01235-002894nas a2200313 4500008004100000022001300041245010600054210006900160260001600229300001400245490000800259520179700267653002402064653000802088653001802096653003202114653001302146653001902159653002902178100001902207700002002226700002002246700001702266700001202283700001702295700001902312700001602331856023302347 2018 eng d a0003347200aAcoustic similarity elicits responses to heterospecific distress calls in bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera)0 aAcoustic similarity elicits responses to heterospecific distress cJan-12-2018 a143 - 1540 v1463 a

Frequently, individuals of one species respond to alarm calls produced by another species. This form of interspecies communication can be critical for survival. How animals recognize and respond to heterospecific alarm calls is, however, still poorly understood. This is especially true for bats, which are highly vocal and possess a specialized auditory system. We hypothesized that, among bat species, acoustic similarity between heterospecific and conspecific alarm calls is a key factor that underlies call recognition. However, this ability could also be acquired via associative learning from prior exposure or result from phylogenetic relatedness among caller and receiver species, as shown by others. Here we focused on distress calls of bats as representing a certain type of alarm call. To test our hypothesis, we recorded distress calls of 11 bat species from four families at five different sites. We broadcast the recorded calls to three of these species (Rhinolophus sinicus, Myotis badius and Myotis laniger). For all three species, neither prior exposure (familiarity) nor phylogenetic relatedness explained the variation in the response strength, as measured by echolocation vocalizations of receiver species in response to playback of heterospecific distress calls. In contrast, acoustic similarity, especially in peak frequency, between conspecific and heterospecific distress calls, was positively correlated with response strength in the receiver species. Thus, our findings emphasize that, at least among bats, acoustic similarity is a key factor allowing recognition of heterospecific alarm calls. It remains unclear whether evolutionary, genetic and/or neurophysiological mechanisms entrain an individual to respond selectively to a specific acoustic feature.

10aacoustic similarity10abat10adistress call10ainterspecific eavesdropping10alearning10apeak frequency10aphylogenetic relatedness1 aHuang, Xiaobin1 aMetzner, Walter1 aZhang, Kangkang1 aWang, Yujuan1 aLuo, Bo1 aSun, Congnan1 aJiang, Tinglei1 aFeng, Jiang uhttps://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0003347218303191https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0003347218303191?httpAccept=text/xmlhttps://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0003347218303191?httpAccept=text/plain01999nas a2200265 4500008004100000245014600041210006900187260001600256300001400272490000800286520117800294653001001472653002601482653002201508653002401530653001401554100001501568700001601583700001901599700001301618700001601631700001601647700001601663856005401679 2017 eng d00aThe effects of cultural drift on geographic variation in echolocation calls of the Chinese rufous horseshoe bat ( Rhinolophus sinicus)0 aeffects of cultural drift on geographic variation in echolocatio cJan-08-2017 a532 - 5410 v1233 a

Drift, selection, or their combined effects commonly drive geographic variation in traits. Clarifying the relative roles of each process is a long-standing research goal in evolutionary biology. Acoustic signals of bats are a phenotypic characteristic that plays an important role in social organization and species recognition. We extensively sampled the Chinese rufous horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus sinicus) throughout China and Vietnam and reconstructed a species phylogeny to better understand the patterns and causes of the geographic variation of acoustic signals. Our results showed that the resting frequency (RF) of calls varied with latitude, sex, and distance among different colony locations. RF differences were not correlated with genetic distance (based on only one nuclear locus and the mitochondrial locus), climatic factors (mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitable water), or body size, although differences in calls increased with distance among various populations. This suggests that cultural drift may play more important roles than genetic drift and acoustic adaptation in shaping acoustic differences within regions in R. sinicus.

10adrift10ageographic variation10aresting frequency10aRhinolophus sinicus10aselection1 aXie, Lifen1 aSun, Keping1 aJiang, Tinglei1 aLiu, Sen1 aLu, Guanjun1 aJin, Longru1 aFeng, Jiang uhttp://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/eth.2017.123.issue-8