Echolocation Flashcards
What is echolocation?
emission of acoustic signals in order to use the returning echoes to perceive the environment
echo ______, ________________, and ____________ and ___________________ differences enable an animal to determine azimuth and distance.
- delays
- intensity
- frequency
- left-and-right
List the following for megachiroptera:
- what kind of animals
- large or small?
- visual or non-visual?
- echolocating or non-echolocating?
- flying foxes and fruit bats
- fairly large
- primarily visual
- 1 echolocating species
List the following for microchiroptera:
- what kind of animals
- large or small?
- visual or non-visual?
- echolocating or non-echolocating?
- “typical” bats
- most are small
- vision relatively poor
- all echolocate
What kind of frequencies does bat echolocation depend on?
ultrasound
What is the range of bat echolocation in dB?
60-140 dB
Is call duration long or short?
short
TRUE or FALSE: Slow attenuation of high frequencies also results in greater changes in the power of returning echoes.
FALSE: RAPID attenuation
What features can be determined from echoes?
- distance
- subtended angle
- absolute size
- azimuth
- elevation
- velocity
TRUE or FALSE: very small amplitude + short delay = small insect is nearby
TRUE
TRUE or FALSE: very small amplitude + long delay = large object is nearby
FALSE: large object is FAR AWAY
How do bats use distance to echolocate?
compare the time between a call and its returning echo
How do bats use subtended angle to echolocate?
the intensity of the echo dictates how much of the echolocating call is broken by an object
How do bats use echolocation to determine absolute size of an object?
by combing DELAY and INTENSITY, the absolute size of an object can be calculated
How do bats use echolocation to determine the azimuth?
compare INTENSITY and TIMING differenes between LEFT and RIGHT to determine direction in x-y dimensions
How do bats use echolocation to determine elevation?
- can move ears when receiving echoes to compare intensities between ears
- ear structure can also enhance intensity differences
- together these provide info on z-axis (up-down)
How do bats use echolocation to determine velocity?
doppler shift of echoes yields velocity
TRUE or FALSE: echo is higher frequency than call = target is moving further away from bat
FALSE: bat is gaining on target (hint: doppler shift)
label the following on slide 8 diagram:
- absolute size
- azimuthal angle
- elevation
- doppler shift and flutter
slide 8
Put the following in order of when a bat’s calls get closer in time:
- search phase
- terminal buzz phase
- approach phase
- search phase
- approach phase
- terminal buzz phase
What are 3 types of echolocating calls?
- clicks
- constant frequency (CF)
- frequency modulation (FM)
Describe the characteristics of clicks.
- broad spectrum; not ultrasonic
- found in the single echolocating fruit bat and birds
Describe the characteristic of constant frequency calls.
primarily a single frequency
Describe the characteristic of frequency modulation (FM) calls.
frequency sweeps
Draw a frequency-time graph for FM bats. Label the 3 phases of the call.
graph A on slide 12 (frequency sweeps)
Draw a frequency-time graph for CF-FM bats. Label the 3 phases of the call.
graph B on slide 12 (downward sweep at end)