Linking communication strategies, roosting ecology, and social structure in Spix’s disc-winged bat, Thyroptera tricolor

The limited availability of refuges may represent an important factor promoting the evolution of sociality, particularly in bats. Spix’s disc-winged bats (Thyroptera tricolor ) show highly specialized morphological adaptations that enable individuals to roost inside furled musoid leaves. This roosting ecology presents major challenges, as leaves rapidly unfurl,forcing bats to locate new roosts on a daily basis. Despite the reliance of T. tricolor on such ephemeral roosting resources,bats form stable group associations. In this presentation, I will discuss work done by myself and Dr. Karina Montero,which focuses on characterizing the behavioural patterns and communication strategies use by this species, which somehowmaintains high group cohesion while moving to a new roosting location on a daily basis. In the first study presented,video and acoustic monitoring was used to assess how groups identify suitable leaf roosts and determine if acousticsignals facilitate group interactions during nightly activity. In the second study, patterns of geographic variation inthe acoustic features of two contact calls were compared with patterns of genetic differentiation of two Costa Rican populations separated by a mountain range. In the third study, an automated telemetry system was used to examine thenocturnal movement patterns of group members to determine the patterns of space use and dyadic interactions. Overall,this work contributes to our understanding of the behavioural strategies used by free-ranging bats to maintain contactwith group members and provides insight into the role of shelter stability in the evolution of the T. tricolor social system.