Data from: Social call divergence in bats: a comparative analysis

Acoustic signals mediate important life history events in a variety of
species, providing new vistas for understanding speciation. It has been
proposed that animal acoustic signals undergo complex interactions among
morphology, ecology, social pressure, and phylogenetic history. Yet, the
relative importance of these factors in shaping acoustic divergence is
rarely assessed within a comparative framework. Herein, we aim to
investigate the key determinants of social call divergence across 31 bat
species from 5 families. We compiled a wide data set on bat aggressive
calls, body size, foraging habitats, foraging modes, climatic conditions,
colony size, and phylogenetic components. We identified remarkable
interspecific divergence versus within-species variation in aggressive
vocalizations. Despite weak effects of ecological factors, colony size,
body size, and phylogenetic components accounted for the majority of
variation in call parameters among species. The colony size and body size
played a major role in influencing spectral parameters, whereas
phylogenetic relationships determined call duration and minimum frequency.
Together, our findings constitute convincing evidence that sociality,
morphological constraint, and phylogenetic constraint mold social call
divergence in bats. This study expands our limited knowledge of the
evolution of bat social calls, and highlights the importance of sociality
in driving acoustic phenotype diversity.