Fig. 1: Sensing vs. movement.

a Theoretical relationship between the maximum distance in which a bat can detect a moth (sensory volume) and the distance the bat travels between consecutive signals (flight distance). b IPI distribution. Lines represent the mean for all conspecifics and shaded areas represent the SE. Asterisks represent the individual data points for each species. N = 25 bats from all four species in total (c) Moth detection distance (i.e., the 1-Dimensional equivalent of the sensory volume) compared to the flight distance between consecutive emissions of the four bat species. Circles represent the average detection distance for different flight distances based on the actual signal parameters and the flight speed and IPI. Asterisks represent the individual data points for each species. Error bars depict the SE. N = 22 bats from all four species in total. Vertical lines show the mean (dotted line) and maximal (solid line) moth detection range for each species. Note that these lines represent values on the Y-axis, but are presented vertically to ease the comparison with the flight distance. These lines reveal that except for M. myotis the bats never fly between consecutive signals farther than the detection range thus maintaining sensing continuity for detecting a moth.