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Evolutionary aspects of bat echolocation.

G Neuweiler
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Abstract

This review is yet another attempt to explain how echolocation in bats or bat-like mammals came into existence. Attention is focused on neuronal specializations in the ascending auditory pathway of echolocating bats. Three different mechanisms are considered that may create a specific auditory sensitivity to echos: (1). time-windows of enhanced echo-processing opened by a corollary discharge of neuronal vocalization commands; (2). differentiation and expansion of ensembles of combination-sensitive neurons in the midbrain; and (3). corticofugal top-down modulations. The second part of the review interprets three different types of echolocation as adaptations to ecological niches, and presents the sophisticated cochlear specializations in constant-frequency/frequency-modulated bats as a case study of finely tuned differentiation. It is briefly discussed how a resonant mechanism in the inner ear of constant-frequency/frequency-modulated bats may have evolved in common mammalian cochlea.

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Acoustic StimulationAdaptation, PhysiologicalAnimalsAuditory PathwaysBiological EvolutionBrainChiropteraCochleaEcholocationNerve NetNeuronal PlasticityNeuronsVocalization, AnimalLecture

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BibTeXRIS

G Neuweiler. 2003-03-28. Evolutionary aspects of bat echolocation.. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-003-0406-2

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