Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Synthesis and Future Research

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Predator–Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and Their Prey

Part of the book series: SpringerBriefs in Animal Sciences ((BRIEFSANIMAL))

  • 668 Accesses

Abstract

Insects have obviously responded to bat predation by evolving a range of defences that are specific to bat predation . However, apart from rare examples of stealth echolocation , only one of which appears to meet the criteria of co-evolution; there is no indication that bats have responded reciprocally and specifically to the defences of their prey. However, with the advent of new technologies, more examples of co-evolved stealth echolocation may be uncovered. This requires an increase in both the geographic and taxonomic coverage of bat–insect interactions. This would include the auditory thresholds of insects and the diets of bats at a level that would allow the determination of whether bats are eating tympanate or tympanate prey. Systems that are likely to yield examples of co-evolution would include those that involve some kind of trade-off , for example, low intensity and/or low-frequency echolocation calls in bats. Bat species in the family Molossidae would be good candidates for this. It is imperative that investigations of co-evolution between bats and their prey are done within a phylogenetic framework, so that the ancestral character states of both groups can be identified and the timing of emergence of suspected co-evolving traits can be determined. For this, we need dated phylogenies with excellent taxonomic coverage for suspected co-evolving lineages .

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 49.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 64.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Acharya L, McNeil JN (1998) Predation risk and mating behavior: the responses of moths to bat-like ultrasound. Behav Ecol 9(6):552–558

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arnqvist G, Rowe L (2005) Sexual conflict. Princeton University Press, New Jersey

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Barber JR, Leavell BC, Keener AL, Breinholt JW, Chadwell BA, McClure CJW, Hill GM, Kawahara AY (2015) Moth tails divert bat attack: evolution of acoustic deflection. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 112(9):2812–2816

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Bates ME, Simmons JA, Zorikov TV (2011) Bats use echo harmonic structure to distinguish their targets from background clutter. Science 333(6042):627–630

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Conner WE, Corcoran AJ (2012) Sound strategies: The 65-million-year-old battle between bats and insects. In: Berenbaum MR (ed) Annual review of entomology, vol 57. Annual Reviews, Palo Alto, pp 21–39

    Google Scholar 

  • Corcoran AJ, Conner WE (2012) Sonar jamming in the field: effectiveness and behavior of a unique prey defense. J Exp Biol 215(24):4278–4287

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dawkins R, Krebs JR (1979) Arms races between and within species. Proc Royal Soc Lond B: Biol Sci 205(1161):489–511

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Fenton MB, Jacobs DS, Richardson EJ, Taylor PJ, White E (2004) Individual signatures in the frequency-modulated sweep calls of African large-eared, free-tailed bats Otomops martiensseni (Chiroptera: Molossidae). J Zool 262:11–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fullard JH, Dawson JW (1997) The echolocation calls of the spotted bat Euderma maculatum are relatively inaudible to moths. J Exp Biol 200(1):129–137

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fullard JH, Koehler C, Surlykke A, McKenzie NL (1991) Echolocation ecology and flight morphology of insectivorous bats (Chiroptera) in South-western Australia. Aust J Zool 39(4):427–438

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Futuyma DJ, Slatkin M (1983) Introduction. In: Coevolution. Sinauer Associates Inc, Sunderland

    Google Scholar 

  • Geipel I, Jung K, Kalko EKV (2013) Perception of silent and motionless prey on vegetation by echolocation in the gleaning bat Micronycteris microtis. Proc Royal Soc Lond B: Biol Sci 280(1754):7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Goerlitz HR, ter Hofstede HM, Zeale MR, Jones G, Holderied MW (2010) An aerial-hawking bat uses stealth echolocation to counter moth hearing. Curr Biol 20(17):1568–1572

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holderied MW, Korine C, Fenton MB, Parsons S, Robson S, Jones G (2005) Echolocation call intensity in the aerial hawking bat Eptesicus bottae (Vespertilionidae) studied using stereo videogrammetry. J Exp Biol 208(7):1321–1327

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Holland B, Rice WR (1999) Experimental removal of sexual selection reverses intersexual antagonistic coevolution and removes a reproductive load. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 96(9):5083–5088

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Houston RD, Boonman AM, Jones G (2004) Do echolocation signal parameters restrict bats’ choice of prey? Echolocation in bats and dolphins. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, pp 339–345

    Google Scholar 

  • Janzen DH, Schoener TW (1968) Differences in insect abundance and diversity between wetter and drier sites during a tropical dry season. Ecology 96–110

    Google Scholar 

  • Jensen ME, Miller LA (1999) Echolocation signals of the bat Eptesicus serotinus recorded using a vertical microphone array: effect of flight altitude on searching signals. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 47:60–69

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones G, Rydell J (1994) Foraging strategy and predation risk as factors influencing emergence time in echolocating bats. Philos Transac Royal Soc B: Biol Sci 346(1318):445–455

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knörnschild M, Jung K, Nagy M, Metz M, Kalko E (2012) Bat echolocation calls facilitate social communication. Proc Royal Soc London B: Biol Sci 279(1748):4827–4835

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs JR, Davies NB (1991) Behavioural ecology: an evolutionary approach, 3rd edn. Blackwell Science Ltd., Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Leonard ML, Fenton MB (1983) Habitat use by spotted bats (Euderma maculatum, Chiroptera, Vespertilionidae)—roosting and foraging behavior. Can J Zool 61(7):1487–1491

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lumsden LF, Bennett AF (2005) Scattered trees in rural landscapes: foraging habitat for insectivorous bats in south-eastern Australia. Biol Conserv 122(2):205–222

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mora EC, Fernández Y, Hechavarría J, Pérez M (2014) Tone-deaf ears in moths may limit the acoustic detection of two-tone bats. Brain Behav Evol 83(4):275–285

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Neuweiler G (1990) Auditory adaptations for prey capture in echolocating bats. Physiol Rev 70(3):615–641

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Puechmaille SJ, Borissov IM, Zsebok S, Allegrini B, Hizem M, Kuenzel S, Schuchmann M, Teeling EC, Siemers BM (2014) Female mate choice can drive the evolution of high frequency echolocation in bats: a case study with Rhinolophus mehelyi. PLoS ONE 9(7):e103452

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliffe JM, Raghuram H, Marimuthu G, Fullard JH, Fenton MB (2005) Hunting in unfamiliar space: echolocation in the Indian false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra, when gleaning prey. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 58:157–164

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Roeder KD (1974) Acoustic sensory responses and possible bat-evasion tactics of certain moths. Paper presented at the proceedings of the Canadian Society of zoologists annual meeting

    Google Scholar 

  • Rydell J, Yalden DW (1997) The diets of two high-flying bats from Africa. J Zool 242:69–76

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schmidt S, Hanke S, Pillat J (2000) The role of echolocation in the hunting of terrestrial prey—new evidence for an underestimated strategy in the gleaning bat, Megaderma lyra. J Comp Physiol A: Neuroethol Sens Neural Behav Physiol 186(10):975–988

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Schoeman MC, Jacobs DS (2008) The relative influence of competition and prey defenses on the phenotypic structure of insectivorous bat ensembles in southern Africa. PLoS ONE 3(11):e3715

    Article  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Simmons JA, Stein RA (1980) Acoustic imaging in bat sonar—echolocation signals and the evolution of echolocation. J Comp Physiol 135(1):61–84

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Soutar AR, Fullard JH (2004) Nocturnal anti-predator adaptations in eared and earless Nearctic Lepidoptera. Behav Ecol 15(6):1016–1022

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tinbergen N (1963) On aims and methods of ethology. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 20(4):410–433

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wai-Ping V, Fenton MB (1989) Ecology of spotted bat (Euderma maculatum) roosting and foraging behavior. J Mammal 70(3):617–622

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Waters DA (2003) Bats and moths: what is there left to learn? Physiol Entomol 28(4):237–250

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Watkins LC (1977) Euderma maculatum. Mamm Species 77:1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Woodsworth G, Bell G, Fenton M (1981) Observations of the echolocation, feeding behaviour, and habitat use of Euderma maculatum (Chiroptera: Vespertilionidae) in southcentral British Columbia. Can J Zool 59(6):1099–1102

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yack JE, Fullard JH (2000) Ultrasonic hearing in nocturnal butterflies. Nature 403(6767):265–266

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Zbinden K, Zingg PE (1986) Search and hunting signals of echolocating European free-tailed bats, Tadarida teniotis, in southern Switzerland. Mammalia 50(1):7–25

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Animal Evolution and Systematics Group, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    David Steve Jacobs

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa

    Anna Bastian

Authors
  1. David Steve Jacobs
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Anna Bastian
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Steve Jacobs .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Jacobs, D.S., Bastian, A. (2016). Synthesis and Future Research. In: Predator–Prey Interactions: Co-evolution between Bats and Their Prey. SpringerBriefs in Animal Sciences. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-32492-0_7

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation