QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s):
Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents

This Article Figures Only Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Helversen, D. v. Articles by Helversen, O. v. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Helversen, D. v. Articles by Helversen, O. v.

The Journal of Experimental Biology 206, 1025-1034 (2003)
doi: 10.1242/jeb.00203

Echoes of bat-pollinated bell-shaped flowers: conspicuous for nectar-feeding bats?

Dagmar v. Helversen^*, Marc W. Holderied and Otto v. Helversen

Zoological Institute, University of Erlangen, Staudtstr. 5, D-91058 Erlangen, Germany
Present address: School of Biological Sciences, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol, BS8 1UG, UK

^* Author for correspondence at present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Verhaltensphysiologie, D-82319 Seewiesen, Germany (e-mail: dghelv{at}biologie.uni-erlangen.de)

Accepted 20 December 2002

Nectar-feeding glossophagine bats searching for flowers are guided by their echolocation system as well as olfactory cues in detecting and recognizing nectar sources. Therefore, chiropterophilous plants, which depend on these bats as pollinators, may be expected to have evolved acoustically conspicuous flowers that facilitate detection. As it is poorly understood how bats manage to find and recognize flowers acoustically, we investigated the echoes of some of the flowers pollinated by bats.

Echoes of bell-shaped bat-pollinated flowers have characteristic features with respect to the echoes they reflect to a calling bat and differ from the echoes of leaves or other objects in their surroundings: the echoes are comparatively long and of complex spectral composition. Owing to the specific shape of the flowers, characteristic `spectral directional patterns' result when the spectra of the echoes are plotted against the angle of sound incidence.

We suggest that bats are able to recognize such flowers — and probably other objects as well — not only by a characteristic spectral composition of the echo but also by comparing sequential echoes, at the same time taking into account their exact calling position relative to the object.

Key words: bat-pollination, echolocation, plant echo, acoustic object recognition, glossophagine bat, chiropterophilous flower

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. Goyret, P. M. Markwell, and R. A. Raguso The effect of decoupling olfactory and visual stimuli on the foraging behavior of Manduca sexta J. Exp. Biol., April 15, 2007; 210(8): 1398 - 1405. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. P. Stich and Y. Winter Lack of generalization of object discrimination between spatial contexts by a bat J. Exp. Biol., December 1, 2006; 209(23): 4802 - 4808. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				R. Simon, M. W. Holderied, and O. von Helversen Size discrimination of hollow hemispheres by echolocation in a nectar feeding bat J. Exp. Biol., September 15, 2006; 209(18): 3599 - 3609. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				M. W. Holderied and O. von Helversen `Binaural echo disparity' as a potential indicator of object orientation and cue for object recognition in echolocating nectar-feeding bats J. Exp. Biol., September 1, 2006; 209(17): 3457 - 3468. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				K. Phillips FLORAL REFLECTIONS J. Exp. Biol., March 15, 2003; 206(6): 935 - 935. [Full Text] [PDF]