Bats Jamming Bats: A Novel Form of Intraspecific Competition

蝙蝠干扰蝙蝠：种内竞争的一种新形式

• 批准号: 1257248
• 负责人: William Conner
• 金额: $ 40万
• 依托单位: Wake Forest University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-07-01 至 2017-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1257248&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Bats; Jamming; Novel; Form; Intraspecific

Predator/prey interactions represent life and death struggles, especially for the prey. Moths have developed a wide variety of behaviors to avoid being captured as they fly at night by bats. The researchers study a system in which species of tiger moths have developed the ability to "jam" the sonar, or echolocation, of bats. The moths produce high-frequency sounds that interfere with the bat's ability to hear echoes returning from the moth, making them very difficult to catch. During the first-ever field study of sonar-jamming, the experimenters discovered a sound that Mexican free-tailed bats make while competing for insects against other Mexican free-tailed bats. The bat's call has many similarities with the moth's jamming signal. Using high speed video and high frequency microphone arrays in the field and lab, the experimenters will determine whether bats jam one another deliberately while competing for food. If this is so (and preliminary evidence suggests that it is), then this would be the first discovery that any echolocating animal actively jams individuals of the same species for their benefit. This work will allow us to compare how jamming works in moths and bats, and how this compares to jamming in modern human warfare. This research may have implications for developing acoustic bat deterrents and in understanding the biology of animals that provide billions of dollars in insect pest control each year.This research will educate graduate students, undergraduates, and grade-school children. The most exciting educational aspect of this proposal is a partnership with SciWorks in Forsyth Co., NC. SciWorks is a Science Center and Environmental Park visited by over 40,000 K through 12 students per year (many of whom are minorities and/or economically disadvantaged). The Conner laboratory will provide a variety of presentations and assist in the development of interactive exhibits for SciWorks based on the research described in this proposal.

捕食者/猎物的相互作用代表了生死斗争，特别是对猎物来说。 蛾已经发展了各种各样的行为，以避免在夜间飞行时被蝙蝠捕获。 研究人员研究了一个系统，在这个系统中，虎蛾已经发展出了“干扰”蝙蝠声纳或回声定位的能力。飞蛾发出的高频声音干扰了蝙蝠听到飞蛾回声的能力，使它们很难被捕捉到。在第一次对声纳干扰的实地研究中，实验人员发现了墨西哥无尾蝙蝠在与其他墨西哥无尾蝙蝠争夺昆虫时发出的声音。蝙蝠的叫声与飞蛾的干扰信号有许多相似之处。实验人员将在野外和实验室中使用高速视频和高频麦克风阵列，确定蝙蝠在争夺食物时是否故意互相干扰。如果是这样的话（初步证据表明是这样的），那么这将是第一次发现任何回声定位动物为了自己的利益而主动干扰同一物种的个体。这项工作将使我们能够比较干扰如何在飞蛾和蝙蝠中起作用，以及如何将其与现代人类战争中的干扰进行比较。这项研究可能会对开发声学蝙蝠威慑物和了解动物的生物学产生影响，这些动物每年提供数十亿美元的虫害控制。这项研究将教育研究生，本科生和小学生。这项提案最令人兴奋的教育方面是与福赛斯公司的SciWorks合作，NC. SciWorks是一个科学中心和环境公园，每年有超过40，000 K到12名学生（其中许多是少数民族和/或经济上处于不利地位的学生）参观。Conner实验室将提供各种演示文稿，并根据本提案中描述的研究协助SciWorks开发交互式展品。