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. 2016 Mar 30;11(3):e0151382.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0151382. eCollection 2016.

'Compromise' in Echolocation Calls between Different Colonies of the Intermediate Leaf-Nosed Bat (Hipposideros larvatus)

Yi Chen  1   2   3 , Qi Liu  1 , Qianqian Su  1 , Yunxiao Sun  1 , Xingwen Peng  1 , Xiangyang He  1 , Libiao Zhang  1   2   3
Affiliations

'Compromise' in Echolocation Calls between Different Colonies of the Intermediate Leaf-Nosed Bat (Hipposideros larvatus)

Yi Chen et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Each animal population has its own acoustic signature which facilitates identification, communication and reproduction. The sonar signals of bats can convey social information, such as species identity and contextual information. The goal of this study was to determine whether bats adjust their echolocation call structures to mutually recognize and communicate when they encounter the bats from different colonies. We used the intermediate leaf-nosed bats (Hipposideros larvatus) as a case study to investigate the variations of echolocation calls when bats from one colony were introduced singly into the home cage of a new colony or two bats from different colonies were cohabitated together for one month. Our experiments showed that the single bat individual altered its peak frequency of echolocation calls to approach the call of new colony members and two bats from different colonies adjusted their call frequencies toward each other to a similar frequency after being chronically cohabitated. These results indicate that the 'compromise' in echolocation calls might be used to ensure effective mutual communication among bats.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. Sound spectrograms and power spectrum of echolocation calls of Hipposideros larvatus.
a: sound spectrograms of echolocation calls; b: power spectrum of echolocation calls.
Fig 2
Fig 2. The variation of peak frequency of colony B bats when they were transferred singly into colony A (mean ± SD, n = 6).
The asterisks indicate significant differences (medians and 95% credible intervals, Bonferoni correction).
Fig 3
Fig 3. The variation of peak frequency of A and B colonies in the paired experiment (mean ± SD, n1 = n2 = 6).
The asterisks indicate significant differences (medians and 95% credible intervals). A Bonferoni correction was used in the intra-group variation, and an independent-samples t-test was used to test the differences between groups. Paired condition: A1-B1, A2-B2, A3-B3, A4-B4, A5-B5, A6-B6.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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