TY - JOUR
T1 - Adaptive sonar call timing supports target tracking in echolocating bats
AU - Kothari, Ninad B.
AU - Wohlgemuth, Melville J.
AU - Moss, Cynthia F.
N1 - Funding Information:
We wish to acknowledge the following grants, which supported the research reported in this article: Human Frontiers Science Program, RGP0040; Office of Naval Research, N00014-12-1-0339 and N00014-17-1-2736; Air Force Office of Scientific Research, FA9550-14-1-0398; and National Science Foundation, IOS1460149 and 1734744 to C.F.M. C.F.M. worked on this manuscript while participating at the 2017 Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics Workshop, the Physics of Hearing: From Neurobiology to Information Theory and Back, and was supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grant no. NSF PHY11-25915.
PY - 2018/9
Y1 - 2018/9
N2 - Echolocating bats dynamically adapt the features of their sonar calls as they approach obstacles and track targets. As insectivorous bats forage, they increase sonar call rate with decreasing prey distance, and often embedded in bat insect approach sequences are clusters of sonar sounds, termed sonar sound groups (SSGs). The bat’s production of SSGs has been observed in both field and laboratory conditions, and is hypothesized to sharpen spatiotemporal sonar resolution. When insectivorous bats hunt, they may encounter erratically moving prey, which increases the demands on the bat’s sonar imaging system. Here, we studied the bat’s adaptive vocal behavior in an experimentally controlled insect-tracking task, allowing us to manipulate the predictability of target trajectories and measure the prevalence of SSGs. With this system, we trained bats to remain stationary on a platform and track a moving prey item, whose trajectory was programmed either to approach the bat, or to move back and forth, before arriving at the bat. We manipulated target motion predictability by varying the order in which different target trajectories were presented to the bats. During all trials, we recorded the bat’s sonar calls and later analysed the incidence of SSG production during the different target tracking conditions. Our results demonstrate that bats increase the production of SSGs when target unpredictability increases, and decrease the production of SSGs when target motion predictability increases. Furthermore, bats produce the same number of sonar vocalizations irrespective of the target motion predictability, indicating that the animal’s temporal clustering of sonar call sequences to produce SSGs is purposeful, and therefore involves sensorimotor planning.
AB - Echolocating bats dynamically adapt the features of their sonar calls as they approach obstacles and track targets. As insectivorous bats forage, they increase sonar call rate with decreasing prey distance, and often embedded in bat insect approach sequences are clusters of sonar sounds, termed sonar sound groups (SSGs). The bat’s production of SSGs has been observed in both field and laboratory conditions, and is hypothesized to sharpen spatiotemporal sonar resolution. When insectivorous bats hunt, they may encounter erratically moving prey, which increases the demands on the bat’s sonar imaging system. Here, we studied the bat’s adaptive vocal behavior in an experimentally controlled insect-tracking task, allowing us to manipulate the predictability of target trajectories and measure the prevalence of SSGs. With this system, we trained bats to remain stationary on a platform and track a moving prey item, whose trajectory was programmed either to approach the bat, or to move back and forth, before arriving at the bat. We manipulated target motion predictability by varying the order in which different target trajectories were presented to the bats. During all trials, we recorded the bat’s sonar calls and later analysed the incidence of SSG production during the different target tracking conditions. Our results demonstrate that bats increase the production of SSGs when target unpredictability increases, and decrease the production of SSGs when target motion predictability increases. Furthermore, bats produce the same number of sonar vocalizations irrespective of the target motion predictability, indicating that the animal’s temporal clustering of sonar call sequences to produce SSGs is purposeful, and therefore involves sensorimotor planning.
KW - Auditory localization
KW - Eptesicus fuscus
KW - Sonar ranging
KW - Sonar sound groups
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U2 - 10.1242/jeb.176537
DO - 10.1242/jeb.176537
M3 - Article
C2 - 29997156
AN - SCOPUS:85054143195
SN - 0022-0949
VL - 221
JO - Journal of Experimental Biology
JF - Journal of Experimental Biology
IS - 18
M1 - jeb176537
ER -