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.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Experimental Ecology, University of Ulm, Albert Einstein Allee 11, D 89069 Ulm, Germany. ralph.simon@uni-ulm.de
authors.forename: Ralph
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Simon
authors.forename: Marc W
authors.initials: MW
authors.lastname: Holderied
authors.forename: Corinna U
authors.initials: CU
authors.lastname: Koch
authors.forename: Otto
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: von Helversen
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002685:Chiroptera / Q000502:physiology*; D004455:Echolocation; D020448:Ericales / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D005247:Feeding Behavior; D035264:Flowers; D008297:Male; D010788:Photosynthesis; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000502:physiology; D057048:Plant Nectar; D054817:Pollination; D013016:Sound
chemical_list: D057048:Plant Nectar