Floral acoustics: conspicuous echoes of a dish-shaped leaf attract bat pollinators

Ralph Simon; Marc W Holderied; Corinna U Koch; Otto von Helversen

doi:10.1126/science.1204210

Floral acoustics: conspicuous echoes of a dish-shaped leaf attract bat pollinators

Ralph Simon, Marc W Holderied, Corinna U Koch, Otto von Helversen

Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article › Academic › peer-review

Abstract

The visual splendor of many diurnal flowers serves to attract visually guided pollinators such as bees and birds, but it remains to be seen whether bat-pollinated flowers have evolved analogous echo-acoustic signals to lure their echolocating pollinators. Here, we demonstrate how an unusual dish-shaped leaf displayed above the inflorescences of the vine Marcgravia evenia attracts bat pollinators. Specifically, this leaf's echoes fulfilled requirements for an effective beacon, that is, they were strong, multidirectional, and had a recognizable invariant echo signature. In behavioral experiments, presence of the leaves halved foraging time for flower-visiting bats.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	631-3
Number of pages	3
Journal	Science
Volume	333
Issue number	6042
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1204210
Publication status	Published - 29 Jul 2011

Keywords

Animals
Chiroptera
Echolocation
Ericales
Feeding Behavior
Flowers
Male
Photosynthesis
Plant Leaves
Plant Nectar
Pollination
Sound
Journal Article
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

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title = "Floral acoustics: conspicuous echoes of a dish-shaped leaf attract bat pollinators",

abstract = "The visual splendor of many diurnal flowers serves to attract visually guided pollinators such as bees and birds, but it remains to be seen whether bat-pollinated flowers have evolved analogous echo-acoustic signals to lure their echolocating pollinators. Here, we demonstrate how an unusual dish-shaped leaf displayed above the inflorescences of the vine Marcgravia evenia attracts bat pollinators. Specifically, this leaf's echoes fulfilled requirements for an effective beacon, that is, they were strong, multidirectional, and had a recognizable invariant echo signature. In behavioral experiments, presence of the leaves halved foraging time for flower-visiting bats.",

keywords = "Animals, Chiroptera, Echolocation, Ericales, Feeding Behavior, Flowers, Male, Photosynthesis, Plant Leaves, Plant Nectar, Pollination, Sound, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't",

author = "Ralph Simon and Holderied, {Marc W} and Koch, {Corinna U} and {von Helversen}, Otto",

year = "2011",

month = jul,

day = "29",

doi = "10.1126/science.1204210",

language = "English",

volume = "333",

pages = "631--3",

journal = "Science",

issn = "0036-8075",

publisher = "American Association for the Advancement of Science",

number = "6042",

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TY - JOUR

T1 - Floral acoustics

T2 - conspicuous echoes of a dish-shaped leaf attract bat pollinators

AU - Simon, Ralph

AU - Holderied, Marc W

AU - Koch, Corinna U

AU - von Helversen, Otto

PY - 2011/7/29

Y1 - 2011/7/29

N2 - The visual splendor of many diurnal flowers serves to attract visually guided pollinators such as bees and birds, but it remains to be seen whether bat-pollinated flowers have evolved analogous echo-acoustic signals to lure their echolocating pollinators. Here, we demonstrate how an unusual dish-shaped leaf displayed above the inflorescences of the vine Marcgravia evenia attracts bat pollinators. Specifically, this leaf's echoes fulfilled requirements for an effective beacon, that is, they were strong, multidirectional, and had a recognizable invariant echo signature. In behavioral experiments, presence of the leaves halved foraging time for flower-visiting bats.

AB - The visual splendor of many diurnal flowers serves to attract visually guided pollinators such as bees and birds, but it remains to be seen whether bat-pollinated flowers have evolved analogous echo-acoustic signals to lure their echolocating pollinators. Here, we demonstrate how an unusual dish-shaped leaf displayed above the inflorescences of the vine Marcgravia evenia attracts bat pollinators. Specifically, this leaf's echoes fulfilled requirements for an effective beacon, that is, they were strong, multidirectional, and had a recognizable invariant echo signature. In behavioral experiments, presence of the leaves halved foraging time for flower-visiting bats.

KW - Animals

KW - Chiroptera

KW - Echolocation

KW - Ericales

KW - Feeding Behavior

KW - Flowers

KW - Male

KW - Photosynthesis

KW - Plant Leaves

KW - Plant Nectar

KW - Pollination

KW - Sound

KW - Journal Article

KW - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

U2 - 10.1126/science.1204210

DO - 10.1126/science.1204210

M3 - Article

C2 - 21798950

SN - 0036-8075

VL - 333

SP - 631

EP - 633

JO - Science

JF - Science

IS - 6042

ER -

Floral acoustics: conspicuous echoes of a dish-shaped leaf attract bat pollinators

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