| Title |
No cost of echolocation for bats in flight
|
|---|---|
| Published in |
Nature, April 1991
|
| DOI | 10.1038/350421a0 |
| Pubmed ID | |
| Authors |
J. R. Speakman, P. A. Racey |
| Abstract |
Echolocation has evolved in relatively few animal species. One constraint may be the high cost of producing pulses, the echoes of which can be detected over useful distances. The energy cost of echolocation in a small (6 g) insectivorous bat, when hanging at rest, was recently measured at 0.067 Joules per pulse, implying a mean cost for echolocation in flight of 9.5 x basal metabolic rate (range 7 to 12x). Because flight is very costly, whether the costs of echolocation and flying are additive is an important question. We measured the energy costs of flight in two species of small echolocating Microchiroptera using a novel combination of respirometry and doubly-labelled water. Flight energy expenditure (adjusted for body mass) was not significantly different between echolocating bats and non-echolocating bats and birds. The low cost of echolocation for flying vertebrates may have been a significant factor favouring its evolution in these groups. |
X Demographics
The data shown below were collected from the profiles of 2 X users who shared this research output. Click here to find out more about how the information was compiled.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| United States | 1 | 50% |
| Unknown | 1 | 50% |
Demographic breakdown
| Type | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Members of the public | 1 | 50% |
| Scientists | 1 | 50% |
Mendeley readers
The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 188 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.
Geographical breakdown
| Country | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 4 | 2% |
| United States | 4 | 2% |
| United Kingdom | 3 | 2% |
| Netherlands | 1 | <1% |
| France | 1 | <1% |
| Malaysia | 1 | <1% |
| Colombia | 1 | <1% |
| Brazil | 1 | <1% |
| Spain | 1 | <1% |
| Other | 1 | <1% |
| Unknown | 170 | 90% |
Demographic breakdown
| Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Researcher | 36 | 19% |
| Student > Master | 30 | 16% |
| Student > Bachelor | 29 | 15% |
| Student > Ph. D. Student | 22 | 12% |
| Other | 15 | 8% |
| Other | 33 | 18% |
| Unknown | 23 | 12% |
| Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 116 | 62% |
| Environmental Science | 16 | 9% |
| Neuroscience | 10 | 5% |
| Engineering | 6 | 3% |
| Earth and Planetary Sciences | 3 | 2% |
| Other | 11 | 6% |
| Unknown | 26 | 14% |
Attention Score in Context
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 4. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 05 April 2023.
All research outputs
#6,656,686
of 23,524,722 outputs
Outputs from Nature
#63,785
of 92,530 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#4,836
of 18,229 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Nature
#111
of 187 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,524,722 research outputs across all sources so far. This one has received more attention than most of these and is in the 70th percentile.
So far Altmetric has tracked 92,530 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a lot more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 100.5. This one is in the 29th percentile – i.e., 29% of its peers scored the same or lower than it.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 18,229 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 72% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 187 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one is in the 39th percentile – i.e., 39% of its contemporaries scored the same or lower than it.