1. Performance of Doppler shift compensation varies with environmental temperature and humidity in bats.
- Author
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Ding, Jianan, Han, Fujie, Zhang, Kangkang, Lin, Aiqing, Jiang, Tingting, Feng, Jiang, and Liu, Ying
- Subjects
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DOPPLER effect , *ECHO , *BODY temperature regulation , *ATMOSPHERIC temperature , *HUMIDITY , *AUDITORY pathways - Abstract
Temperature and relative humidity are important environmental factors that greatly affect sound-mediated activities in animals. However, little is known about how changes in temperature and humidity affect animal vocal systems. Echolocating bats perceive their surroundings through acoustic signals. In this study, we investigated the effects of temperature and humidity changes on the audiovocal control system, Doppler shift compensation (DSC), in echolocating bats, Hipposideros armiger. Results revealed that the DSC system was more precise under higher temperature and humidity conditions, while the frequency of calls and echoes decreased under higher temperatures. Atmospheric attenuation and body temperature increased with increasing experimental temperature and humidity conditions. Our results suggest that atmospheric attenuation and body temperature significantly affect DSC precision (DSC P) and the specialized narrow-frequency band of the auditory system (reference frequency). Owing to the small differences in sound attenuation between experimental groups, we speculate that the changes in attenuation were not sufficient to induce changes in DSC P. We propose that DSC performance may change concomitantly with frequency adjustment and may be passively affected by body temperature regulation. Our study shows how changes in the weather can affect animal vocal control systems and fitness. • Doppler shift compensation is more precise at higher temperatures and humidity. • It may be affected by call frequency and body temperature changes. • Call frequency is affected by both body temperature and atmospheric attenuation. • The latter drives bats' call frequency changes when a physiological effect also exists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2023
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