Bats adjust temporal parameters of echolocation pulses but not those of communication calls in response to traffic noise.

Many studies based on acute short-term noise exposure have demonstrated that animals can adjust their vocalizations in response to ambient noise. However, the effects of chronic noise over a relatively long time scale of multiple days remain largely unclear. Bats rely mainly on acoustic signals for perception of environmental and social communication. Nearly all previous studies on noise-induced vocal adjustments have focused on echolocation pulse sounds. Relatively little is known regarding the effects of noise on social communication calls. Here, we examined the dynamic changes in the temporal parameters of echolocation and communication vocalizations of Vespertilio sinensis when exposed to traffic noise over multiple days. We found that the bats started to modify their echolocation vocalizations on the fourth day of noise exposure, with an increase of 42-91% in the total number of pulse sequences per day. Under noisy conditions, the number of pulses within a pulse sequence decreased by an average of 17.2%, resulting in a significantly slower number of pulses/sequence (P < 0.001). However, there was little change in the duration of a pulse sequence. These parameters were not significantly adjusted in most communication vocalizations under the noise condition (all P > 0.05), except that the duration decreased and the number of syllables/sequences increased in 1 type of communicative vocalization (P < 0.05). This study suggests that bats routinely adjust temporal parameters of echolocation but rarely of communication vocalizations in response to noise condition.