Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Social organization and foraging in emballonurid bats

II. A model for the determination of group size

  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Summary

  1. 1.

    Graphical methods are presented for the simultaneous comparisons of group size and territory size (subsumed jointly under the term “social dispersion”), in organisms with exclusive but contiguous territories. The methods are applied to recently published data on five species of neotropical emballonurid bats with particular emphasis on identifying the factors which set maximal limits on group size. The available evidence suggests that population densities, group territory sizes, and group sizes are all limited by components of the food distribution. More particularly, it is argued that minimization of annual foraging ranges is of advantage to these bats and leads to a colony territory size containing one and only one active food site at any given time. Territory size is thus determined by the average distance between successively available food sites, the number of such sites needed per year, and the average size of these sites. Maximal group size is then determined as a result of this territory size minimization and equals average richness of currently used food patches.

  2. 2.

    The model predicts that where food patches are low in richness and close together, social dispersion will be fine-grained; where patches are high in richness and occur far apart, social dispersion will be coarse-grained. Since sites in this study which have many small patches tend to be located in the more stable habitats, the model also predicts that temporal stability in group size and unimodal frequency distributions of group size over space will be associated with fine-grained dispersions. The reverse is predicted for coarse-grained social dispersions.

  3. 3.

    The model only predicts the maximal size colonies can take. Among the many possible factors promoting social aggregation up to the predicted maxima, only a few account for the observed congruence in colony sizes and compositions at the roost and on the foraging grounds. These include information transfer about new food sites, location of roosts centrally to reduce energy costs of transit (Horn, 1968), and stabilization of competition with conspecifics at food sites.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Aldrich-Blake, F.P.G.: Problems of social structure in forest monkeys. In: Social behavior in birds and mammals. (ed. Crook, J.), pp. 79–101. London: Academic Press 1970

    Google Scholar 

  • Bell, R.H.V.: The use of the herb layer by grazing ungulates in the Serengeti. In: Animal populations in relation to their food resources. (ed. Watson, A.), pp. 111–124. Oxford: Blackwell 1970

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury, J., Emmons, L.: Social organization of some Trinidad bats. I. Emballonuridae. Z. Tierpsychol. 36, 137–183 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury, J., Vehrencamp, S.: Social organization and foraging in emballonurid bats. I. Field studies. Behav. Ecol. Sociobiol. 1, 337–381 (1976)

    Google Scholar 

  • Brock, V.E., Riffenburgh, R.H.: Fish schooling: a possible factor in reducing predation. J. Cons. Perm. Intern. Exp. Mer. 25, 307–317 (1960)

    Google Scholar 

  • Brosset, A.: La vie sociale des oiseaux dans une forêt équatoriale du Gabon. Biol. Gabon. 5, 26–69 (1969)

    Google Scholar 

  • Brown, J.L.: Alternate routes to sociality in jays—with a theory for the evolution of altruism and communal breeding. Amer. Zoologist 14, 63–80 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Cody, M.L.: Finch flocks in the Mohave Desert. Theor. Pop. Biol. 2, 142–158 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Crook, J.H.: The evolution of social organization and visual communication in the weaver birds (Ploceinae). Behaviour, Suppl. 10, 1–178 (1964)

    Google Scholar 

  • Crook, J.H.: The adaptive significance of avian social organizations. Symp. Zool. Soc. Lond. 14, 181–218 (1965)

    Google Scholar 

  • Dunbar, R.J.M., Dunbar, E.P.: Ecology and population dynamics of Colobus guereza in Ethiopia. Folia Primat. 21, 188–208 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Frankie, G.W., Baker, H.G., Opler, P.A.: Comparative phenological studies of trees in tropical wet and dry forests in the lowlands of Costa Rica. J. Ecol. 62, 881–919 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Fretwell, S.D.: Populations in a seasonal environment. Monograph #5. In: Monographs in population biology. Princeton: Princeton Univ. Press 1972

    Google Scholar 

  • Gaston, A.J.: The ecology and behavior of the long-tailed tit. Ibis 115, 330–351 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Glanders, K.E.: Habitat and resource utilization: an ecological view of social organization in mantled howling monkeys. PhD thesis, Univ. Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 1975

    Google Scholar 

  • Goodwin, G.G., Greenhall, A.M.: A review of the bats of Trinidad and Tobago. Bull. Am. Mus. Nat. His. 122, 187–302 (1961)

    Google Scholar 

  • Goss-Custard, J.D.: Feeding dispersion in some over-wintering wading birds. In: Social behavior in birds and mammals (ed. Crook, J.), pp. 3–35. New York: Academic Press 1970

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, W.D.: Geometry for the selfish herd. J. theor. Biol. 31, 295–311 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Hamilton, W.J., Watt, K.E.F.: Refuging. Ann. Rev. Ecol. System. 1, 263–286 (1970)

    Google Scholar 

  • Horn, H.S.: The adaptive significance of colonial nesting in the Brewer's Blackbird (Euphagus cyanocephalus). Ecology 49, 682–694 (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  • Humphrey, S.R.: Nursey roosts and community diversity of Nearctic bats. J. Mammal 56, 321–346 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, J.R.: Territory and breeding density in the great tit, Parus major. Ecology 52, 2–22 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Krebs, J.R., MacRoberts, M.H., Cullen, J.M.: Flocking and feeding in the great tit Parus major—An experimental study. Ibis 114, 507–530 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Kruuk, H.: The spotted hyena: A study of predation and social behavior. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press 1972

    Google Scholar 

  • Lockard, G.B., Owings, D.H.: Moon-related surface activity of bannertail (Dipodomys spectabilis) and fresno (D. nitratoides) Kangaroo rats. Animal Behav. 22, 262–273 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Lopez-Forment, W.: Some ecological aspects of the bat Balantiopteryx plicata plicata Peters, 1867 (Chiroptera: Emballonuridae) in Mexico M.S. thesis, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, New York 1976

    Google Scholar 

  • McNab, B.K.: Bioenergetics and the determination of home range size. Amer. Naturalist 97, 133–140 (1963)

    Google Scholar 

  • Morrison, D.W.: The foraging behavior and feeding ecology of a neotropical fruit bat, Artibeus jamaicensis. PhD thesis, Cornell Univ. Ithaca, New York 1975

    Google Scholar 

  • Morse, D.H.: Ecological aspects of some mixed-species foraging flocks of birds. Ecol. Mono. 40, 119–168 (1970)

    Google Scholar 

  • O'Farrell, M.J.: Seasonal activity patterns of rodents in a sagebrush community. J. Mammal. 55, 809–823 (1974)

    Google Scholar 

  • Papageorgis, C.: Mimicry in neotropical butterflies. Amer. Scientist 63, 522–531 (1975)

    Google Scholar 

  • Pielou, E.C.: An introduction to mathematical ecology. New York: Wiley-Interscience 1969

    Google Scholar 

  • Pulliam, H.R.: On the advantages of flocking. J. theor. Biol. 38, 419–422 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ramirez, P.J., Sanchez, H.: Regurgitaciones de lechuza, procedentes de la cueva del canon del Zopilote, Guerrero, Mexico. Rev. Soc. Mex. Hist. Nat. 33, 107–112 (1972)

    Google Scholar 

  • Robertson, R.J.: Optimal niche space of the red-winged blackbird: spatial and temporal patterns of nesting activity and success. Ecology 54, 1085–1093 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Schaller, G.B.: The Serengeti lion: A study of predator-prey relations. Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press 1972

    Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, M.: Predation and the evolution of gregariousness. I. Models for concealment and evasion. Animal Behav. 23, 779–800 (1975a)

    Google Scholar 

  • Treisman, M.: Predation and the evolution of gregariousness. II. An economic model for predatorprey interaction. Animal Behav. 23, 801–825 (1975b)

    Google Scholar 

  • Turner, D.C.: The vampire bat — A field study in behavior and ecology. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins Univ. Press 1975

    Google Scholar 

  • Vehrencamp, S.: The evolution of communal nesting in groove-billed anis. PhD thesis, Cornell Univ., Ithaca, New York 1976

    Google Scholar 

  • Vehrencamp, S., Stiles, G.F., Bradbury, J.: Avian prey of the carnivorous bat, Vampyrum spectrum, in Costa Rica. J. Mammal., in press

  • Vine, I.: Risk of visual detection and pursuit by a predator and the selective advantage of flocking behavior. J. theor. Biol. 30, 405–422 (1971)

    Google Scholar 

  • Ward, P., Zahavi, A.: The importance of certain assemblages of birds as “information centers” for food-finding. Ibis 115, 517–534 (1973)

    Google Scholar 

  • Way, M.J., Cammell, M.: Aggregation behavior in relation to food utilization in aphids. In: Animal populations in relation to their food resources (ed. Watson, A.), pp. 229–247. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications 1970

    Google Scholar 

  • Wilson, E.O.: Sociobiology: The new synthesis. Cambridge, Mass.: The Belknap Press 1975

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA

    J. W. Bradbury & S. L. Vehrencamp

Authors
  1. J. W. Bradbury
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. S. L. Vehrencamp
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Bradbury, J.W., Vehrencamp, S.L. Social organization and foraging in emballonurid bats. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 1, 383–404 (1976). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299400

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00299400

Keywords

Search

Navigation