The paper “Temporal Feasibility Constraints on Wingbeat-Call Synchrony in Actively Echolocating Bats” is now published in Ecology and Evolution. It develops a constraint-based framework showing when wingbeat-call synchrony is temporally feasible during active echolocation, and when that coordination must break down as prey approach dynamics become faster.

Read » https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ece3.73622

The study examines how finite acoustic delays, sensory processing, and bounded motor response times shape the closed sensorimotor loop of echolocation. Rather than treating synchrony and asynchrony as separate behavioural modes, the analysis shows that transitions between them can emerge naturally from temporal feasibility limits.

Using simulations across multiple motor-control configurations, the paper shows that greater motor flexibility extends the range over which synchrony can be maintained, but does not remove the underlying feasibility boundary. The results help explain transient decoupling during prey pursuit and the terminal buzz, and they generate clear predictions for when wingbeat-call synchrony should fail.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.73622