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Ma N, Xia H, Yu C, Wei T, Yin K, Luo J. Effects of insect pursuit on the Doppler shift compensation in a hipposiderid bat. J Exp Biol 2024; 227:jeb246355. [PMID: 38352987 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.246355] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/26/2023] [Accepted: 02/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/19/2024]
Abstract
Doppler shift compensation (DSC) is a unique feature observed in certain species of echolocating bats and is hypothesized to be an adaptation to detecting fluttering insects. However, current research on DSC has primarily focused on bats that are not engaged in foraging activities. In this study, we investigated the DSC performance of Pratt's roundleaf bat, Hipposideros pratti, which was trained to pursue insects in various motion states within a laboratory setting. Our study yielded three main results. First, H. pratti demonstrated highly precise DSC during insect pursuit, aligning with previous findings of other flutter-detecting foragers during orientation or landing tasks. Second, we found that the motion state of the insect prey had little effect on the DSC performance of H. pratti. Third, we observed variations in the DSC performance of H. pratti throughout the course of insect pursuit. The bats exhibited the highest DSC performance during the phase of maximum flight speed but decreased performance during the phase of insect capture. These findings of high precision overall and the time-dependent performance of DSC during insect pursuit support the hypothesis that DSC is an adaptation to detecting fluttering insects.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nina Ma
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Hangjing Xia
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Chao Yu
- Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210039, China
| | - Tingting Wei
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Kuiying Yin
- Nanjing Research Institute of Electronics Technology, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210039, China
| | - Jinhong Luo
- Institute of Evolution and Ecology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
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Zou J, Jin B, Ao Y, Han Y, Huang B, Jia Y, Yang L, Jia Y, Chen Q, Fu Z. Spectrally non-overlapping background noise disturbs echolocation via acoustic masking in the CF-FM bat, Hipposideros pratti. CONSERVATION PHYSIOLOGY 2023; 11:coad017. [PMID: 37101704 PMCID: PMC10123856 DOI: 10.1093/conphys/coad017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2022] [Revised: 01/12/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 06/19/2023]
Abstract
The environment noise may disturb animal behavior and echolocation via three potential mechanisms: acoustic masking, reduced attention and noise avoidance. Compared with the mechanisms of reduced attention and noise avoidance, acoustic masking is thought to occur only when the signal and background noise overlap spectrally and temporally. In this study, we investigated the effects of spectrally non-overlapping noise on echolocation pulses and electrophysiological responses of a constant frequency-frequency modulation (CF-FM) bat, Hipposideros pratti. We found that H. pratti called at higher intensities while keeping the CFs of their echolocation pulses consistent. Electrophysiological tests indicated that the noise could decrease auditory sensitivity and sharp intensity tuning, suggesting that spectrally non-overlapping noise imparts an acoustic masking effect. Because anthropogenic noises are usually concentrated at low frequencies and are spectrally non-overlapping with the bat's echolocation pulses, our results provide further evidence of negative consequences of anthropogenic noise. On this basis, we sound a warning against noise in the foraging habitats of echolocating bats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jianwen Zou
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Baoling Jin
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Yuqin Ao
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Yuqing Han
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Baohua Huang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Yuyang Jia
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Lijian Yang
- College of Physical Science and Technology, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Ya Jia
- College of Physical Science and Technology, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Qicai Chen
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China
| | - Ziying Fu
- Corresponding author: Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation & Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, No.152 Luoyu Road, Wuhan City, Hubei Province, 430079, China.
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Zhang G, Cui Z, Fan Z, Yang L, Jia Y, Chen Q, Fu Z. Background noise responding neurons in the inferior colliculus of the CF-FM bat, Hipposideros pratti. Hear Res 2023; 432:108742. [PMID: 37004270 DOI: 10.1016/j.heares.2023.108742] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/30/2022] [Revised: 03/02/2023] [Accepted: 03/24/2023] [Indexed: 03/28/2023]
Abstract
The Lombard effect, referring to an involuntary rise in vocal intensity, is a widespread vertebrate mechanism that aims to maintain signal efficiency in response to ambient noise. Previous studies showed that the Lombard effect could be sufficiently implemented at subcortical levels and operated by continuously monitoring background noise, requiring some subcortical auditory sensitive neurons to have continuous responses to background noise. However, such neurons have not been well characterized. The inferior colliculus (IC) is a major auditory integration center under the auditory cortex and provides projections to the putative vocal pattern generator in the brainstem. Thus, it is reasonable to speculate that the IC is a likely auditory nucleus candidate having background noise responding neurons (BNR neurons). In the present study, we isolated 183 sound-sensitive IC neurons in a constant frequency-frequency modulation bat, Hipposideros pratti, and found that around 19% of these IC neurons are BNR neurons when stimulated with 70 dB SPL background white noise. Their firing rates in response to noise increased with increasing noise intensity and could be suppressed by sound stimulation. Furthermore, compared to neurons with similar best frequencies, the BNR neurons had smaller Q10-dB values and lower noise-induced minimal threshold change, indicating that BNR neurons received fewer inhibitory inputs. These results suggested that the BNR neurons are ideal candidates for collecting information about background noise. We proposed that the BNR neurons synapsed with neurons in vocal-pattern-generating networks in the brainstem and initiated the Lombard effect by a feed-forward loop.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guimin Zhang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China
| | - Zhongdan Cui
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China
| | - Zihui Fan
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China
| | - Lijian Yang
- College of Physical Science and Technology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Ya Jia
- College of Physical Science and Technology, Central China Normal University, Wuhan 430079, China
| | - Qicai Chen
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China
| | - Ziying Fu
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, Hubei 430079, China.
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Zhang G, Cui Z, Wu J, Jin B, Zhou D, Liu L, Tang J, Chen Q, Fu Z. Constant Resting Frequency and Auditory Midbrain Neuronal Frequency Analysis of Hipposideros pratti in Background White Noise. Front Behav Neurosci 2021; 15:657155. [PMID: 34113242 PMCID: PMC8185161 DOI: 10.3389/fnbeh.2021.657155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2021] [Accepted: 04/16/2021] [Indexed: 11/28/2022] Open
Abstract
Acoustic communication signals are inevitably challenged by ambient noise. In response to noise, many animals adjust their calls to maintain signal detectability. However, the mechanisms by which the auditory system adapts to the adjusted pulses are unclear. Our previous study revealed that the echolocating bat, Hipposideros pratti, increased its pulse intensity in the presence of background white noise. In vivo single-neuron recording demonstrated that the auditory midbrain neurons tuned to the second harmonic (H2 neurons) increased their minimal threshold (MT) to a similar degree as the increment of pulse intensity in the presence of the background noise. Furthermore, the H2 neurons exhibited consistent spike rates at their best amplitudes and sharper intensity tuning with background white noise compared with silent conditions. The previous data indicated that sound intensity analysis by auditory midbrain neurons was adapted to the increased pulse intensity in the same noise condition. This study further examined the echolocation pulse frequency and frequency analysis of auditory midbrain neurons with noise conditions. The data revealed that H. pratti did not shift the resting frequency in the presence of background noise. The auditory midbrain neuronal frequency analysis highly linked to processing the resting frequency with the presence of noise by presenting the constant best frequency (BF), frequency sensitivity, and frequency selectivity. Thus, our results suggested that auditory midbrain neuronal responses in background white noise are adapted to process echolocation pulses in the noise conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Guimin Zhang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Zhongdan Cui
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Jing Wu
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Baoling Jin
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Dandan Zhou
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Long Liu
- College of Science, National University of Defense Technology, Changsha, China
| | - Jia Tang
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Qicai Chen
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
| | - Ziying Fu
- Hubei Key Laboratory of Genetic Regulation and Integrative Biology, School of Life Sciences, Central China Normal University, Wuhan, China
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