Flight and echlocation in the ecology and evolution of bats

Flight and echolocation are key characters distinguishing most bats from other mammals.The number of ecolological niches for bats is limited by the concurent constraints of the mammalian physiology and reproductive system and the high cost of flight and echolocation. The recent discovery of a biomechanical coupling between echolocation and flight highlights the need to incorporate both chracters as parts of a single adaptive complex in future research on the ecology and evolution of bats.