Behavioral evidence for eavesdropping on prey song in two Palearctic sibling bat species

Eavesdropping on prey communication signals has never before been reported for a Palearctic bat species. In this study, we investigated whether lesser and greater mouse-eared bats, Myotis blythii oxygnathus and Myotis myotis, find tettigoniid bushcrickets (Tettigoniidae) by eavesdropping on their mate-attraction song. Tettigoniids are known to be the most important prey item for M. blythii oxygnathus, while carabid beetles and other epigaeic arthropods are the most important prey for its sibling species, M. myotis, in many places in Europe. M. myotis locates walking beetles by listening for their rustling sounds. We compared these two species’ response to four acoustic prey cues: calling song of two tettigoniid species, the rustling sound made by walking carabid beetles, and a control tone. Individuals of both bat species attacked the speaker playing tettigoniid song, which clearly indicates that both species eavesdrop on prey-generated advertisement signals. There were, however, species differences in response. M. blythii oxygnathus exhibited stronger predatory responses to the calling song of two species of tettigoniid than to the beetle rustling sound or the control. M. myotis, in contrast, exhibited stronger predatory responses to the beetle rustling and to one tettigoniid species but not the other tettigoniid or the control. Our study (1) for the first time demonstrates eavesdropping on prey communication signals for Palearctic bats and (2) gives preliminary evidence for sensory niche partitioning between these two sympatric sibling bat species.     

Hierarchical patch choice by an insectivorous bat through prey availability components

Food availability does not only refer to the abundance of edible items; accessibility and detectability of food are also essential components of the availability concept. Constraints imposed by a habitat’s physical structure on the accessibility and detectability of food have been seldom treated simultaneously to the abundance of prey at the foraging patch level in observational studies. We designed a research that allowed decoupling the effects of microhabitat structure and prey abundance on foraging patch selection of the trawling insectivorous long-fingered bat (Myotis capaccinii). The use of different patches of river was surveyed by radiotelemetry during three periods of the bat’s annual cycle, and prey abundance was accordingly measured in and out of the hunting grounds of the tracked bats by insect traps emulating the species’ foraging. Bats preferentially used river stretches characterised by an open course and smooth water surfaces, i.e. they used the most suitable patches in terms of prey accessibility and detectability, respectively. In addition, prey abundance in the selected river stretches was higher than in others where bat activity was not recorded, although the latter also offered good access and prey detection possibilities. Bats also shifted foraging stretches seasonally, likely following the spatiotemporal dynamics of prey production over the watershed. We suggest that the decisions of bats during the patch choice process fitted a hierarchical sequence driven first by the species’ morphological specialisations and ability to hunt in unobstructed spaces, then by the detectability of prey on water surfaces and, finally, by the relative abundance of prey.     

Accounting for variation in prey selectivity by zooplankton

An ingestion-based prey selectivity function (IS) is described specifically to aid the simulation of zooplankton activity in circumstances in which selectivity varies, for example, as functions of prey palatability or abundance. In IS, the ultimate control of the rate of predation is not the external concentration of prey but the total rate of prey capture relative to predator demand. Further, “preference” is not an input (as it is for most prey selection functions) so that the selection or deselection of any or all prey can be freely altered. Hence, if required, all prey could be deselected, or the impact of inert materials or turbulence adversely affecting capture rates of any or all prey can be considered. Capture kinetics are not fixed at a common value for all items. In its basic form IS contains no more variables than other selectivity functions. The construction and use of switches to vary grazing in response to changes in abundance of alternative prey types or in prey nutritional (stoichiometric) quality is demonstrated. The advantages of using IS instead of the widely used ratio-based selectivity function is demonstrated with reference to model fits to experimental datasets for microzooplankton activity.     

Individual- and population-level responses of a keystone predator to geographic variation in prey

Investigating how food supply regulates the behavior and population structure of predators remains a central focus of population and community ecology. These responses will determine the strength of bottom-up processes through the food web, which can potentially lead to coupled top-down regulation of local communities. However, characterizing the bottom-up effects of prey is difficult in the case of generalist predators and particularly with predators that have large dispersal scales, attributes that characterize most marine top predators. Here we use long-term data on mussel, barnacle, limpet, and other adult prey abundance and recruitment at sites spread over 970 km to investigate individual- and population-level responses of the keystone intertidal sunstar Heliaster helianthus on the coast of Chile. Our results show that this generalist predator responds to changes in the supply of an apparently preferred prey, the competitively dominant mussel Perumytilus purpuratus. Individual-level parameters (diet composition, per capita prey consumption, predator size) positively responded to increased mussel abundance and recruitment, whereas population-level parameters (density, biomass, size structure) did not respond to bottom-up prey variation among sites separated by a few kilometers. No other intertidal prey elicited positive individual predator responses in this species, even though a large number of other prey species was always included in the diet. Moreover, examining predator-prey correlations at approximately 80, 160, and 200 km did not change this pattern, suggesting that positive prey feedback could occur over even larger spatial scales or as a geographically unstructured process. Thus individual-level responses were not transferred to population changes over the range of spatial scales examined here, highlighting the need to examine community regulation processes over multiple spatial scales.     

Scale-dependent response diversity of seabirds to prey in the North Sea

Functional response diversity is defined as the diversity of responses to environmental change among species that contribute to the same ecosystem function. Because different ecological processes dominate on different spatial and temporal scales, response diversity is likely to be scale dependent. Using three extensive data sets on seabirds, pelagic fish, and zooplankton, we investigate the strength and diversity in the response of seabirds to prey in the North Sea over three scales of ecological organization. Two-stage analyses were used to partition the variance in the abundance of predators and prey among the different scales of investigation: variation from year to year, variation among habitats, and variation on the local patch scale. On the year-to-year scale, we found a strong and synchronous response of seabirds to the abundance of prey, resulting in low response diversity. Conversely, as different seabird species were found in habitats dominated by different prey species, we found a high diversity in the response of seabirds to prey on the habitat scale. Finally, on the local patch scale, seabirds were organized in multispecies patches. These patches were weakly associated with patches of prey, resulting in a weak response strength and a low response diversity. We suggest that ecological similarities among seabird species resulted in low response diversity on the year-to-year scale. On the habitat scale, we suggest that high response diversity was due to interspecific competition and niche segregation among seabird species. On the local patch scale, we suggest that facilitation with respect to the detection and accessibility of prey patches resulted in overlapping distribution of seabirds but weak associations with prey. The observed scale dependencies in response strength and diversity have implications for how the seabird community will respond to different environmental disturbances.     

Population feedback after successful invasion leads to ecological suicide in seasonal environments

For most consumer species, winter represents a period of harsh food conditions in addition to the physiological strain that results from the low ambient temperatures. In size-structured populations, larger-bodied individuals do better during winter as they have larger energy reserves to buffer starvation periods. In contrast, smaller-bodied individuals do better under growing conditions, as they have lower maintenance costs. We study how the interplay between size-dependent life-history processes and seasonal changes in temperature and food availability shape the long-term dynamics of a size-structured consumer population and its unstructured resource. We show that the size dependence of maintenance requirements translates into a minimum body size that is needed for surviving starvation when consumers can adapt only to a limited extent to the low food densities in winter. This size threshold can lead to population extinction because adult individuals suffer only a little during winter and hence produce large numbers of offspring. Due to population feedback on the resource and intense intra-cohort competition, newborn consumers then fail to reach the size threshold for survival. Under these conditions, small numbers of individuals can survive, increase in density, and build up a population, which will subsequently go extinct due to its feedback on the resource. High juvenile mortality may prevent this ecological suicide from occurring, as it releases resource competition among newborns and speeds up their growth. In size-structured populations, annual fluctuations in temperature and food availability may thus lead to a conflict between individual fitness and population persistence.     

The sensory basis of prey location by the California leaf-nosed bat Macrotus californicus (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae)

Summary Macrotus californicus, an insectivorous bat, captures prey on the ground, and shows great sensory flexibility in hunting for prey: it uses high frequency, low intensity, frequency modulated echolocation to locate prey in total darkness, however data from this study suggest that it uses vision preferentially, and switches off its echolocation when adequate illumination is available. When souncs of prey are available it exploits these also. It uses echolocation only 50% of the time at 4.2x10^-2 mL, comparable to ground luminance on a brightly moonlit night, and employs vision even at 10^-3 mL.     

Predator foraging behavior in response to perception and learning by its prey: interactions between orb-spinning spiders and stingless bees

Although rewarded bees learn and remember colors and patterns, they have difficulty in learning to avoid negative stimuli such as decorated spider webs spun by Argiope argentata. A. argentata decorates its web with silk patterns that vary unpredictably (Fig. 1) and thus foraging insects that return to sites where spiders are found encounter new visual cues daily. Stingless bees can learn to avoid spider webs but avoidance-learning is slowed or inhibited by daily variation in web decorations (Figs. 3,4; Tables 1,2). In addition, even if bees learn to avoid decorated webs found in one location, they are unable to generalize learned-avoidance responses to similarly decorated webs found at other sites. A. argentata seems to have evolved a foraging behavior that is tied to the ways insects perceive and process information about their environment. Because of the evolutionary importance of bee-flower interdependence, the predatory behavior of web-decorating spiders may be difficult for natural selection to act against.     

毛竹根系生物量分布与季节动态变化

采用挖土柱法研究了安徽黄山地区毛竹（Phyllostachys edulis）根系生物量的分布规律,连续观测了根系生物量的季节变化,并分析了根系生物量与温度、降雨等环境因子相关性。研究结果表明：毛竹林的根系生物量平均为12.891 t·hm^-2,88.8%的根系分布在0-40 cm土层,随土层加深根系生物量逐渐减少,0-20 cm土层中的生物量占总生物量的62.3%,分别是20-40 cm与40-60 cm根系生物量的2.35倍与5.56倍;根系总生物量具有明显的季节动态,变化范围为7.686-17.386 t·hm^-2,表现为单峰型,7月份最高,2月份最低;不同深度土壤中毛竹根系生物量也存在明显的季节动态,均从2月份开始上升,达到最大值后逐渐下降,与总生物量的季节变化规律类似,其中0-20 cm与20-40 cm土层根系生物量最大值出现在7月,与总生物量一致,而40-60 cm土层最大值出现在6月,存在一定偏差;毛竹林根系生物量与气温因子显著相关,三次拟合方程为Y=0.0001X3-0.0013X2＋0.2398X＋7.6022（R2=0.956）,与降雨量因子无显著相关性。     

深圳湾浮游动物的群落结构及季节变化

2008年2月、5月、8月和11月分别对深圳湾浮游动物进行了周年的季节调查,结果共检出浮游动物38种和浮游幼体13类,其中原生动物2种,腔肠动物4种,介形类1种,桡足类22种,软甲类3种,毛颚类3种,被囊类1种,多毛类2种,浮游幼体（包括仔鱼）13类。年均丰度和生物量分别为406.7 ind.m-3和764.0 mg.m-3,高峰均位于夏季,低谷分别位于冬、春季。种类数（包括浮游幼虫）秋季最多为43种,夏季次之为30种,冬季最少仅23种。主要优势种为太平洋纺锤水蚤Acartia pacifica、刺尾纺锤水蚤Acartia spinicauda、短角长腹剑水蚤Oithona brevicornis、双生水母Diphyes chamissonis、卡玛拉水母Malagazzia carolinae、蔓足类幼体和桡足幼体等。多样性指数和均匀度年均值分别为2.568和0.526。回归分析表明浮游动物丰度和生物量与各环境因子之间存在明显的相关性,但有季节变化。     

Diet and seasonal prey capture rates in the Mediterranean red coral (Corallium rubrum L.)

Gorgonians are passive suspension feeders, contributing significantly to the energy flow of littoral ecosystems. More than in active suspension feeders (such as bivalves, ascidians and sponges) their prey capture is affected by spatial and temporal prey distribution and water movement. Corallium rubrum is a characteristic gorgonian of Mediterranean sublittoral hard bottom communities. This study found a high variability in the annual cycle of prey capture rate, prey size and ingested biomass, compared to other Mediterranean gorgonians. Detrital particulate organic matter (POM) was found throughout the year in the polyp guts and constituted the main proportion of the diet (25–44%). Crustacean fragments and copepods (14–46%) accounted for the second major proportion, while invertebrate eggs (9–15%) and phytoplankton (8–11%) constituted the smallest part of the diet. To verify the importance of detrital POM in the energy input of this precious octocoral species, in situ experiments were carried out during the winter–spring period. The results confirm the importance of detrital POM as the main source of food for C. rubrum [0.13±0.04 μg C polyp⁻¹ h⁻¹ (mean±SD)]. This study also compares the prey capture rates of two colony size classes and two depth strata: Within the same patch, small colonies (<6 cm height) captured significantly more prey per polyp (0.038±0.09 prey polyp⁻¹ h⁻¹) than larger colonies (>10 cm high) (0.026±0.097 prey polyp⁻¹ h⁻¹) and showed a higher proportion of polyps containing prey (17% compared to 10%). Comparing colonies of similar size (<6 cm height) revealed that the colonies situated at 40 m depth captured significantly more prey (0.038±0.09 prey polyp⁻¹ h⁻¹) than the ones at 20 m (0.025±0.11 prey polyp⁻¹ h⁻¹). One pulse of copepods was recorded that constituted 16% of all captured prey during the 15-month period studied in one of the sampled populations. The data suggest that the variability of hydrodynamic processes may have a higher influence on the feeding rate than seasonal changes in the seston composition. The carbon ingestion combined with data on the density of the exploited population results in 0.4–9.6 mg C m⁻² day⁻¹. The grazing impact of current, heavily exploited and small-sized populations is comparable to that of larger Mediterranean gorgonians, suggesting that unexploited red coral populations may have a high impact compared with other passive suspension feeders.     

Clinal variation in anuran advertisement calls: basis for acoustic isolation?

Summary The calls of male treefrogs (Eleutherodactylus coqui) were studied along an altitudinal gradient in the Luquillo Mountains in eastern Puerto Rico. The fundamental frequency of each note in the advertisement call was highly negatively correlated with altitude. Although males responded vigorously to playbacks of calls of other males recorded at their own altitude, males at high altitudes responded less frequently to recorded calls of males from low altitudes, and males at low altitudes responded less frequently to recorded calls of males from high altitudes. These results are discussed in relation to potential isolation in contiguous populations of E. coqui.     

Behavioral response to predators reverses the outcome of competition between prey species

Summary In a laboratory experiment it was shown that piscivorous predators reversed the outcome of competitive interactions between two fish prey species, juveniles of roach (Rutilus rutilus) and perch (Perca fluviatilis), by behaviorally affecting their use of two available habitats, an open water habitat and a structurally complex refuge. The shift in the competitive relationship was the result of predators forcing the juvenile fishes into a prey refuge with high structural complexity. While roach was competitively superior in the unstructured habitat, perch was superior in the structurally complex prey refuge. The reversal in competitive relationship was demonstrated both with respect to foraging rate and growth rate and resulted from the high structural complexity in the prey refuge interfering with the roach's swimming performance. Because survival and growth patterns through the juvenile stages have profound effects on the population/community dynamics of size-structured populations such as those of fish, behaviorally induced changes in competitive ability should have significant implications also at the population and community levels.     

Spatial and seasonal variation in pteropods (Mollusca) of Indo-Malayan waters related to watermass distribution

Distribution and size variation of thecosomatous pteropods from the eastern Banda and western Arafura Sea (Indonesia) were studied during the southeast and northwest monsoon seasons in 1984 and 1985, respectively. During the SE monsoon the pteropod community presents evidence of a zoogeographic boundary located roughly along the Banda Arc, separating a Java and Banda Sea fauna in the west from a mixed imported Pacific and local upwelling fauna in the east. During the NW monsoon the boundary was not present and the Java and Banda Sea fauna, with Indian Ocean influences, was found thoughout the area. The observed patterns match the seasonal movements of watermasses in the area, and it is concluded that taxonomic composition and morphological data of the pteropod fauna are finetuned tracers of hydrography.     

Using the functional response of a consumer to predict biotic resistance to invasive prey

Predators sometimes provide biotic resistance against invasions by nonnative prey. Understanding and predicting the strength of biotic resistance remains a key challenge in invasion biology. A predator's functional response to nonnative prey may predict whether a predator can provide biotic resistance against nonnative prey at different prey densities. Surprisingly, functional responses have not been used to make quantitative predictions about biotic resistance. We parameterized the functional response of signal crayfish (Pacifastacus leniusculus) to invasive New Zealand mud snails (Potamopyrgus antipodarum; NZMS) and used this functional response and a simple model of NZMS population growth to predict the probability of biotic resistance at different predator and prey densities. Signal crayfish were effective predators of NZMS, consuming more than 900 NZMS per predator in a 12-h period, and Bayesian model fitting indicated their consumption rate followed a type 3 functional response to NZMS density. Based on this functional response and associated parameter uncertainty, we predict that NZMS will be able to invade new systems at low crayfish densities (< 0.2 crayfish/m2) regardless of NZMS density. At intermediate to high crayfish densities (> 0.2 crayfish/m2), we predict that low densities of NZMS will be able to establish in new communities; however, once NZMS reach a threshold density of -2000 NZMS/m2, predation by crayfish will drive negative NZMS population growth. Further, at very high densities, NZMS overwhelm predation by crayfish and invade. Thus, interacting thresholds of propagule pressure and predator densities define the probability of biotic resistance. Quantifying the shape and uncertainty of predator functional responses to nonnative prey may help predict the outcomes of invasions.     

Spatial and seasonal variation of polychlorinated biphenyls in Songhua River, China

The spatial and seasonal variation of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) were investigated in water and sediment samples collected from Songhua River, China, from 2007 to 2008. The total concentration of PCB congeners ranged from 1.1 to 14 ng/l in water and 0.26–9.7 ng/g dry weight (dw) in sediment. The results of seasonal variation may suggest an impact to PCB concentration in water from its atmospheric input, the dilution to PCBs concentrations of high stream in summer, and a general trend towards increased volatilization in warmer conditions. From PCBs concentrations comparison between upstream and downstream of industrial urban cities, it was obvious that industrial urban cities reflect an important pollutant source for PCBs in our study, also with the evidences of high concentrations of PCBs occurring in high development industry and residential areas. Meanwhile, the homologue profile of PCBs in Songhua was analyzed, whose comparison with published data indicates that the sources of PCBs accumulated in the sediment may also came from the residue of PCBs production in China. Total five dioxin-like PCBs (CB-77, 81, 105, 114, and 126) and nine (CB-77, 81, 105, 114, 118, 123, 126, 156, and 167) were found in Songhua water and sediment.     

Correlation between the seasonal distribution of harbour porpoises and their prey in the Sound,Baltic Sea

Low densities of harbour porpoises in winter (November–March) and high densities in summer (April–October) were found in the Sound, connecting the Baltic Sea and Kattegat. Due to their high energy requirements, it is hypothesized that the density of harbour porpoises is related to local prey abundance. This was tested by examining the stomach content of 53 harbour porpoises collected between 1987 and 2010 in the Sound (high season, 34 porpoises; low season, 19 porpoises). A total of 1,442 individual fish specimens from thirteen species were identified. Twelve of these were present in the high–porpoise density season and seven in the low-density season. The distribution of occurrence and the distribution of number of fish species were different between seasons, indicating a shift in prey intake between seasons. Furthermore, during the high-density season, the mean and total prey weight per stomach as well as the prey species diversity was higher. However, no difference was found in the number of prey species between the two seasons, indicating a higher quality of prey in the high-density season. Atlantic cod was found to be the main prey species in terms of weight in the high-density season while Atlantic herring and Atlantic cod were equally important during the low-density season. Prey availability and predictability are suggested as the main drivers for harbour porpoise distribution, and this could be caused by the formation of frontal zones in spring in the northern part of the Sound, leading to prey concentrations in predictable areas.     

Echolocation call design and limits on prey size: a case study using the aerial-hawking bat Nyctalus leisleri

The echolocation calls used by Nyctalus leisleri during search phase in open air space are between 9 and 14 ms long, with the peak energy between 24 and 28 kHz. The pulses are shallowly frequency-modulated with or without an initial steep frequency-modulated component. The diet consists primarily of small flies (Diptera), including many chironomids (wingspan 9–12 mm) and yellow dung flies (Scatophaga; wingspan 24 mm), but also of some larger insects such as dung beetles (Coleoptera; Scarabaeoidea), caddis-flies (Trichoptera) and moths (Lepidoptera). The echo target strength of some prey items was measured. Contrary to models based on standard targets such as spheres or disks, the echo strength of real insects was found to be virtually independent of the emitted frequency within the 20–100 kHz frequency range. A model was used to calculate probable detection distances of the prey by the bat. Using narrow-band calls of 13.7 ± 2.7 ms duration, a bat would detect the two smallest size classes of insect at greatest range using calls of 20 kHz. The results may therefore explain why many species of large and medium sized aerial-hawking bats use low-frequency calls and still eat mostly relatively small insects. The data and model challenges the assumption that small prey are unavailable to bats using low-frequency calls.     

Hunting in unfamiliar space: echolocation in the Indian false vampire bat, Megaderma lyra, when gleaning prey

The literature suggests that in familiar laboratory settings, Indian false vampire bats (Megaderma lyra, family Megadermatidae) locate terrestrial prey with and without emitting echolocation calls in the dark and cease echolocating when simulated moonlit conditions presumably allow the use of vision. More recent laboratory-based research suggests that M. lyra uses echolocation throughout attacks but at emission rates much lower than those of other gleaning bats. We present data from wild-caught bats hunting for and capturing prey in unfamiliar conditions mimicking natural situations. By varying light level and substrate complexity we demonstrated that hunting M. lyra always emit echolocation calls and that emission patterns are the same regardless of light/substrate condition and similar to those of other wild-caught gleaning bats. Therefore, echoic information appears necessary for this species when hunting in unfamiliar situations, while, in the context of past research, echolocation may be supplanted by vision, spatial memory or both in familiar spaces.Communicated by T. Czeschlik