蝙蝠使用超聲波回聲定位,，但它們捕食的一些飛蛾能感知到蝙蝠發(fā)出的超聲波并據(jù)此躲避。英國一項最新研究說,，一些蝙蝠因此又進化出了類似“隱形戰(zhàn)機”的功能,，可以改變所發(fā)出的超聲波，讓飛蛾難以察覺自己的存在,。
英國布里斯托爾大學研究人員在新一期《當代生物學》（Current Biology）雜志上報告說,，在蝙蝠與飛蛾之間長期的互動進化中，一些飛蛾已經(jīng)可以感知到蝙蝠發(fā)出的超聲波,，從而躲避蝙蝠的捕食,。但研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn)歐洲寬耳蝠仍然可以捕食到這些飛蛾，因此他們分析了這種蝙蝠發(fā)出的超聲波,。
研究人員發(fā)現(xiàn),，歐洲寬耳蝠在捕食飛蛾時會大幅降低所發(fā)出的超聲波的振幅，與其他蝙蝠發(fā)出的高振幅超聲波相比,，其“安靜”程度可提高約百倍,。研究人員又在飛蛾耳中裝入微小的探測器，記錄它在聽到不同超聲波時耳朵神經(jīng)的信號變化,，結果也證實,，其他種類的蝙蝠離飛蛾約30米時就會被飛蛾發(fā)覺，而具有“隱形”本領的歐洲寬耳蝠可逼近到3．5米還不被飛蛾察覺,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
Current Biology doi：10.1016/j.cub.2010.07.046
An Aerial-Hawking Bat Uses Stealth Echolocation to Counter Moth Hearing
Holger R. Goerlitz, Hannah M. ter Hofstede, Matt R.K. Zeale, Gareth Jones, Marc W. Holderied
Ears evolved in many nocturnal insects, including some moths, to detect bat echolocation calls and evade capture [1,2]. Although there is evidence that some bats emit echolocation calls that are inconspicuous to eared moths, it is difficult to determine whether this was an adaptation to moth hearing or originally evolved for a different purpose [2,3]. Aerial-hawking bats generally emit high-amplitude echolocation calls to maximize detection range [4,5]. Here we present the first example of an echolocation counterstrategy to overcome prey hearing at the cost of reduced detection distance. We combined comparative bat flight-path tracking and moth neurophysiology with fecal DNA analysis to show that the barbastelle, Barbastella barbastellus, emits calls that are 10 to 100 times lower in amplitude than those of other aerial-hawking bats, remains undetected by moths until close, and captures mainly eared moths. Model calculations demonstrate that only bats emitting such low-amplitude calls hear moth echoes before their calls are conspicuous to moths. This stealth echolocation allows the barbastelle to exploit food resources that are difficult to catch for other aerial-hawking bats emitting calls of greater amplitude.
