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Evolutionary processes can be influenced by several factors, such as geographic isolation, environmental selection, and sensory variation. For most nocturnal bats, echolocation is the primary sensory system used to prey and communicate, and plays important roles in chiropteran diversification and evolution. Understanding the relative contribution of geography, the environment, and this sensory system to population genetic divergence can elucidate the processes involved in bat incipient speciation and evolution. In this study, we collected spatial and environmental information, echolocation calls, as well as the previously published genetic data (six microsatellite loci and the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene) of widely distributed Rhinolophus episcopus populations to test three hypotheses for nuclear and mitochondrial divergence (isolation by distance, isolation by environment, and isolation by sensory variation) and unveil the factors that drive intraspecific genetic differentiation. The moderate level of nuclear differentiation was correlated with geographic/spatial distance and acoustic variation, whereas the relatively high level of mitochondrial differentiation was mainly associated with acoustic divergence. No significant correlation was observed between genetic divergence and environmental variables. Among the three factors, acoustic divergence explained the highest percentage of both nuclear and mitochondrial divergence. Thus, our results indicate that sensory variation may have played important roles in driving population isolation early in bat speciation, which is consistent with the hypothesis of isolation by sensory variation. Our study emphasizes the need to consider more factors, especially sensory traits, and combine multiple statistical methods in landscape genetic studies to test their potential contributions to driving population divergence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The superiority of garnet‐type solid electrolyte makes it one of most promising candidates for all‐solid‐state lithium batteries. Several studies show that introduction of alumina during synthesis can greatly improve the density and ionic conductivity of garnet electrolyte Li7La3Zr2O12 (LLZO), but the reason of poor sinterability of LLZO is still unclear. In this study, we reveal that lithium carbonate, which has a high decomposition temperature and covers on the particle surface of LLZO, is the underlying reason that handicaps the sinterability of Li‐Garnet electrolyte in air. The addition of alumina promotes the decomposition of Li2CO3 (down to 400°C) and the concomitant product LiAlO2, as a fast Li‐ion conductor, facilitates the sintering process and bulids a fast Li‐ion conducting network along the grain‐boundaries, significantly increasing the ionic conductivity of Li‐Garnet electrolyte. By the conventional solid state sintering, the 10 mol% Al2O3 modified Li6.4La3Zr1.4Ta0.6O12 (LLZT‐10Al2O3) electrolyte reaches a relative density of 96% and shows a conductivity of 0.31 mS cm−1 at room temperature. The prepared LLZT‐10Al2O3 electrolyte exhibits a good wetting property toward metallic Li electrode with an interfacial resistance of 59 Ω cm2 compared to 1270 Ω cm2 for LLZT/Li. This work provides a fundamental understanding and a valuable strategy for developing high performance garnet‐type electrolyte for all‐solid‐state lithium batteries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]