Department of Biological Sciences, North Dakota State University, Fargo, North Dakota, United States of America.
PLoS One. 2013 Apr 24;8(4):e61731. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0061731. Print 2013.
Social animals regularly face the problem of relocating conspecifics when separated. Communication is one of the most important mechanisms facilitating group formation and cohesion. Known as contact calls, signals exchanged between conspecifics that permit group maintenance are widespread across many taxa. Foliage-roosting bats are an excellent model system for studying the evolution of contact calling, as there are opportunities to compare closely related species that exhibit major differences in ecology and behavior. Further, foliage-roosting bats rely on relatively ephemeral roosts, which leads to major challenges in maintaining group cohesion. Here, we report findings on the communication signals produced by two tent-making bats, Dermanura watsoni and Ectophylla alba. We found that both species produced calls in the early morning near the roost that were associated with roostmate recruitment. Calling often ended once other bats arrived at the tent, suggesting that calls may be involved in roostmate recruitment and group formation. The structure and function of these calls are described and future research directions are discussed.
社会性动物在与同类分离时，经常面临寻找同类的问题。交流是促进群体形成和凝聚力的最重要机制之一。被称为联络叫声的信号，在同类之间交换，允许群体维持，在许多分类群中广泛存在。树叶栖息的蝙蝠是研究联络叫声进化的极好模型系统，因为有机会比较密切相关的物种，这些物种在生态和行为上表现出重大差异。此外，树叶栖息的蝙蝠依赖于相对短暂的栖息地，这导致维持群体凝聚力面临重大挑战。在这里，我们报告了两种帐篷蝙蝠，Dermanura watsoni 和 Ectophylla alba 产生的通讯信号的研究结果。我们发现，这两个物种在清晨靠近栖息地时都会发出与栖息地招募有关的叫声。一旦其他蝙蝠到达帐篷，叫声通常就会停止，这表明叫声可能与栖息地招募和群体形成有关。描述了这些叫声的结构和功能，并讨论了未来的研究方向。
