The vocal repertoire of pale spear-nosed bats in a social roosting context
Abstract
Commonly known for their ability to echolocate, bats also use a wide variety of social vocalizations to communicate with one another. However, the full vocal repertoires of relatively few bat species have been studied thus far. The present study examined the vocal repertoire of the pale spear-nosed bat, Phyllostomus discolor, in a social roosting context. Based on visual examination of spectrograms and subsequent quantitative analysis of syllables, eight distinct syllable classes were defined, and their prevalence in different behavioral contexts was examined. Four more syllable classes were observed in low numbers and are described here as well. These results show that P. discolor possesses a rich vocal repertoire, which includes vocalizations comparable to previously reported repertoires of other bat species as well as vocalizations previously undescribed. Our data provide detailed information about the temporal and spectral characteristics of syllables emitted by P. discolor, allowing for a better understanding of the communicative system and related behaviors of this species. Furthermore, this vocal repertoire will serve as a basis for future research using P. discolor as a model organism for vocal communication and vocal learning and it will allow for comparative studies between bat species.
Citation
Lattenkamp , E Z , Shields , S M , Schutte , M , Richter , J , Linnenschmidt , M , Vernes , S C & Wiegrebe , L 2019 , ' The vocal repertoire of pale spear-nosed bats in a social roosting context ' , Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution , vol. 7 , 116 . https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2019.00116
Publication
Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
2296-701XType
Journal article
Rights
Copyright © 2019 Lattenkamp, Shields, Schutte, Richter, Linnenschmidt, Vernes and Wiegrebe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
Description
Funding: The research was funded by a Human Frontiers Science Program Research Grant (RGP0058/2016) awarded to LW and SV. SS wasfunded by the Fulbright U.S. Student Program.Collections
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