Echolocation constraints of Daubenton's Bat foraging over water

Abstract

1. Daubenton's Bats (Myotis daubentonii) foraging over a stream concentrated their activity over calm surfaces, avoiding an adjacent area with small ripples (< 3 cm high). Aerial insects were most abundant over the ripples, so insect distribution could not explain why the bats avoided this area. 2. The bats flew low over water and always (N = 22) directed the head forwards, presumably emitting the echolocation beam parallel to the surface, thus minimizing clutter. At an angle of incidence of 30°there was significantly more clutter from the rippled water. 3. The ripples produced ultrasonic noises in the form of transient pulses at an average rate of 6.2 per second. In the present case, such pulses were common enough potentially to interfere with target detection by the bats. Transient noises and echo clutter from moving ripples may be the principal reason why bats generally avoid foraging low over turbulent water. 4. The target strength of a potential insect prey at the water surface and the source levels of the bats' searching signals were measured to use in estimating the echo level at the bat when it detects the prey. The echo level at detection (+ 38 dB sound pressure level) was about the same as the clutter level extrapolated to the detection distance. This suggests that Daubenton's Bat operates at very low signal-to-noise ratios when foraging for insects near the water surface.