Summary
The compensation of Doppler-shifts by the bat,Rhinolophus ferrumequinum, functions only when certain temporal relations between the echo and the emitted orientation sound are given. Three echo configurations were used:
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a)
Original orientation sounds were electronically Doppler-shifted and played back either cut at the beginning (variable delay) or at the end (variable duration) of the echo.
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b)
Artificial constant frequency echoes with variable delay or duration were clamped to the frequency of the emitted orientation sound at different Doppler-shifts.
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c)
The echoes were only partially Doppler-shifted and the Doppler-shifted component began after variable delays or had variable durations.
With increasing delay or decreasing duration of the Doppler-shifted echo the compensation amplitude for a sinusoidally modulated +3 kHz Dopplershift (modulation rate 0.08 Hz) decreases for all stimulus configurations (Figs. 1, 2, 3).
The range of the Doppler-shift compensation system is therefore limited by the delay due to acoustic travel time to about 4 m distance between bat and target. In this range the overlap duration of the echo with the emitted orientation sound is always sufficiently long, when compared with data on the orientation pulse length during target approach from Schnitzler (1968) (Fig. 5).
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Supported by Stiftung Volkswagenwerk, grant No. 111858; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, grant No. Ne 146/7, Schu 390/1, Schn 138/6
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Schuller, G. Echo delay and overlap with emitted orientation sounds and doppler-shift compensation in the bat,Rhinolophus ferrumequinum . J. Comp. Physiol. 114, 103–114 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00656811
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00656811