9321794 Wilkinson For her doctoral dissertation, Ms. Janette Wenrick Boughman will investigate the maintenance of group foraging in the omnivorous, neotropical greater spear-nosed bat. These bats forage in groups around rich, ephemeral food sources, while giving loud vocalizations. Neither the advantages of group foraging nor the functions of these vocalizations are fully understood. Ms. Boughman's research will focus on two areas. First, she will determine if acquisition of information about food distribution from group members is a primary advantage of group foraging. To this end, she will analyze social and echolocation calls to determine if these calls provide acoustic signature information. Playback experiments with captive bats will determine whether acoustic information is used to discriminate between individuals and groups. Foraging experiments will help to determine the function of this information to animals foraging in groups, and measure benefits to test relevant group-foraging models. Second, Ms. Boughman will conduct field work to corroborate results of research with captive animals. To this end, she will make observations as a basis for estimating frequency of group foraging, foraging success of solitary and group-foraging individuals, and weaning success of roost groups. Field playbacks will test group discrimination by bats at foraging sites. This work will add substantially to understanding of how group members discriminate between their group-mates and others. It will provide insight into the influence of vocal communication in structuring social systems and mediating complex behavior, and the importance of information transfer in maintaining group foraging behavior.
