Cooperative signaling behavior of roost location in a leaf-roosting bat

Abstract

Research suggests that social calls are important for conveying information about food and roost location in bats. However, no studies have specifically documented calls that are used to actively attract conspecifics to roosting locations. Here we describe the cooperative signaling behavior of roost location towards flying conspecifics in Spix’s disc-winged bat (Thyroptera tricolor), a species that uses a highly ephemeral roosting resource. Two types of calls were recorded during field experiments; one from flying individuals termed “inquiry calls”, and another from roosting bats termed “response calls”. Inquiry calls were emitted by flying bats immediately upon release, and quickly elicited production of response calls from roosting individuals. Most flying bats entered the roost when roosting individuals responded, while very few bats entered the roost in the absence of a response. During playback experiments, we found significant differences in response rates among individuals, which could be caused by diverse intrinsic and extrinsic factors. In addition, results of our ongoing field studies suggest that the cooperative signaling behavior of roost location is important in maintaining social cohesion, and that the use of a larger home range when resources are scarcer may decrease group stability by hindering communication.