Do nocturnal birds use acoustic and visual cues to avoid predation by bats?  

作　　者：Lixin GONG Huan WU Zhiqiang WANG Hui WU Jiang FENG Tinglei JIANG 

机构地区：[1]Jilin Provincial Key Laboratory of Animal Resource Conservation and Utilization,Northeast Normal University,Changchun,China [2]Key Laboratory of Vegetation Ecology of Education Ministry,Institute of Grassland Science,Northeast Normal University,Changchun,China [3]College of Life Science,Jilin Agricultural University,Changchun,China

出　　处：《Integrative Zoology》2024年第3期524-537,共14页整合动物学（英文版）

基　　金：supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.31922050);the Fund of the Jilin Province Science and Technology Development Project(Grant No.20220101273JC);the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(Grant Nos.2412023QD026 and 2412023YQ002);the Special Foundation for National Science and Technology Basic Research Program of China(Grant No.2021FY100301).

摘　　要：Anti-predation strategies are critical to animal survival and are fundamental to deciphering predator–prey interactions.As an important defense strategy,sensory predator detection(such as through acoustic and visual cues)enables animals to assess predation risk and execute predator-avoidance behavior;however,there are limited studies on the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.The prey of bats provides an excellent representative system for examining the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.Here,we broadcasted different types of echolocation calls of the bird-eating bat Ia io to two wild passerine birds,namely,Zosterops japonicus and Sinosuthora webbiana,that are preyed upon by I.io,and presented the birds with individual bats under different light intensities.The results showed that both bird species were able to perceive the low-frequency audible portion of the bats’echolocation calls;however,they did not exhibit escape responses to the acoustic stimuli.In the dark and under moonlit conditions,both bird species were unable to respond to active bats at close range and the birds only exhibited evasive flight behavior when bats approached or touched them.These results suggest that nocturnal passerine birds may not be able to use acoustic or visual cues to detect bats and adopt evasive maneuvers to avoid predation.This work suggests that bat predation pressure may not elicit primary predator-avoidance responses in nocturnal passerine birds.The results provide new insights into the anti-predation behavior of nocturnal animals.

关 键 词：anti-predation behavior nocturnal animals sensory cues sensory defenses 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]