Echolocation variability
Bats exhibit the ability to modify their echolocation based on various factors such as their environment, behavior, and the presence of other bats.
Ecomorphological guilds
Ecomorphological guilds are classifications of bats that take into account their wing morphology, functional characteristics, preferred foraging microhabitat and foraging strategy.
Feeding buzz
A series of pulses where the bat is honing in on prey. Pulses are typically steeper, higher frequency and with smaller pulse interval
FFT Window
Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) relating to the time and frequency resolutions. Changing the FFT Window will alter the horizontal and vertical rendering of full spectum data.
Frequency
Frequency refers to the pitch or tone of a sound and is determined by the number of sound waves, or cycles, occurring per second. It is typically measured in kilohertz (kHz). A higher-pitched sound has a higher frequency, with more wave cycles packed into each second.
Frequency modulated (FM)
A call that sweeps through a range of frequencies; usually dropping from a high frequency down to a lower frequency. Some genera make entirely frequency modulated calls, others make calls that have constant frequency plus frequency modulated components such as a tail. Frequency modulated calls are sometimes described as steep because they cover a large […]
Full spectrum
Full spectrum is one of the main recording formats used for bat files, typically saved as .wav files. Unlike zero-crossing analysis, full spectrum files record all the spectral/intensity information within a sound, similar to a music file. For more information see our FAQ full spectrum vs. zero crossing.
GUANO Metadata
Grand Unified Acoustic Notation Ontology for bat metadata. This is a global format for metadata on sound files that ensures compability between different detectors, softwares and brands.
Harmonics
Multiple, parallel components of a call repeated in consistent divisible patterns at different frequencies. Harmonics are labelled in order from H1 (the lowest or ‘fundamental’ frequency) upwards. The dominant harmonic is the one with the most amplitude, and is usually H1 or H2.
Initial section
The initial section of a call pulse before the body.