title: Morphology-induced information transfer in bat sonar.
abstract: It has been argued that an important part of understanding bat echolocation comes down to understanding the morphology of the bat sound processing apparatus. In this Letter we present a method based on information theory that allows us to assess target localization performance of bat sonar, without a priori knowledge on the position, size, or shape of the reflecting target. We demonstrate this method using simulated directivity patterns of the frequency-modulated bat Micronycteris microtis. The results of this analysis indicate that the morphology of this bat's sound processing apparatus has evolved to be a compromise between sensitivity and accuracy with the pinnae and the noseleaf playing different roles.
authors.affiliation: Departement Biologie, Universiteit Antwerpen, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium.
authors.forename: Jonas
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Reijniers
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vanderelst
authors.forename: Herbert
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peremans
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology*; D004423:Ear / Q000502:physiology; D004455:Echolocation / Q000502:physiology*; D008954:Models, Biological; D009949:Orientation / Q000502:physiology; D013016:Sound