Publications: Goldshtein Lab

PNAS cover, April 8, 2025: a bat in flight

Cover: PNAS, April 8, 2025

2025 Goldshtein, A.†*, Mazar, O.†, Harten, L., Amichai, E., Assa, R., Levi, A., Orchan, Y., Toledo, S., Nathan, R., Yovel, Y. On-board recordings reveal how bats maneuver with severe acoustic interference. PNAS 122(14):e2407810122. In this study, we used on-board acoustic and motion recordings to unravel how bats navigate dense group flight under severe acoustic interference, illuminating key sensory constraints and collision-avoidance strategies. The article was featured as the cover image of PNAS.

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2407810122

Media coverage: The paper received exceptional international media attention, with coverage on 27 news outlets, including NPR (podcast interview), Science News, Popular Science, Max Planck Society, ScienceDaily, Phys.org, SciTechDaily, Spektrum (Germany), wissenschaft.de (Germany), EarthSky, Der Spiegel, and The Brighter Side of News, among others.

2025 Rachum, A., Harten, L., Assa, R., Goldshtein, A., Chen, X., Gonceer, N., Yovel, Y. Early experience affects foraging behavior of wild fruit-bats more than their original behavioral predispositions. eLife 14:RP103220. This study showed that early-life experience shapes the foraging behavior of wild fruit bats more strongly than each bat's original behavioral predispositions, highlighting the role of individual experience over innate tendencies in the development of foraging strategies.

DOI: 10.7554/eLife.103220.1

2024 Goldshtein, A., Yovel, Y. On-board sensors reveal new insights into animal decision-making. Annual Review of Ecology, Evolution, and Systematics 55:115–131. This review presents the first integrative framework for understanding how on-board biologging technologies (GPS, accelerometers, and acoustic tags) can reveal the decision-making processes of animals in the wild.

DOI: 10.1146/annurev-ecolsys-102722-125640

2024 Goldshtein, A.†*, Chen, X.†, Amichai, E., Boonman, A., Harten, L., Yinon, O., Orchan, Y., Nathan, R., Toledo, S., Couzin, I.D., Yovel, Y. Acoustic cognitive map-based navigation in echolocating bats. Science 386(6721), 561–567. This study provided the first demonstration that bats can conduct kilometer-scale navigation using echolocation alone, while maintaining an acoustic cognitive map of their environment, thereby bridging sensory ecology and cognitive mapping research.

DOI: 10.1126/science.adn6269

Scientific coverage: Reviewed in Nature Reviews Neuroscience.
Media coverage: The paper received exceptional media attention, with coverage including Max Planck Society, Ars Technica, Popular Science, Deutschlandfunk (Germany), LaSexta (Spain), MDR (Germany), ScienceDaily, Phys.org, Agencia SINC (Spain), Sciencenet (China), Technology Networks, SciTechDaily, Neuroscience News, Earth.com, The Debrief, Yahoo!, Fanpage (Italy), and Antyweb (Poland).

2024 Krivoruchko, K., Koblitz, J.C., Goldshtein, A., Biljman, K., Guillén-Servent, A., Yovel, Y. A social foraging trade-off in echolocating bats reveals that they benefit from some conspecifics but are impaired when many are around. PNAS 121:e2321724121. This study uncovered a social foraging trade-off in bats, showing the benefits of small-group foraging alongside the sensory interference that comes with large groups.

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2321724121

2024 Chakravarty, P., Ashbury, A.M., Strandburg-Peshkin, A., Iffelsberger, J., Goldshtein, A., Schuppli, C., Snell, K.R., Charpentier, M.J., Núñez, C.L., Gaggioni, G., et al. The sociality of sleep in animal groups. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 39. This perspective article is the first cross-taxa synthesis of the role of sociality in shaping sleep, highlighting the mechanisms and consequences of collective sleep across animal groups.

DOI: 10.1016/j.tree.2024.07.011

2024 Harten, L., Chen, X., Marcas, L. de., Rachum, A., Handel, M., Goldshtein, A., Levi, M.F., Rosencwaig, S., Yovel, Y. Time-mapping and future-oriented behavior in free-ranging wild fruit bats. Current Biology 34(13):3005–3010.e4. This study revealed future-oriented time-mapping in wild bats, showing planning-like behavior in a free-ranging mammal.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2024.05.046

2023 Taub, M.†, Goldshtein, A.†, Boonman, A., Eitan, O., Hurme, E., Greif, S., Yovel, Y. What determines the information acquisition rate in echolocating bats. Communications Biology 6:1187. This study revealed the factors that shape information acquisition rates in echolocating bats, advancing our understanding of sensory processing and behavioral flexibility.

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-023-05563-x

2023 Chudnovsky, A.†, Goldshtein, A.†, Shashua-Bar, L., Yovel, Y., Potchter, O. Bat bio-assisted sampling (BAS) for monitoring urban heat island. Applied Geography 155:102952. This study introduced bats as an innovative method for monitoring the urban heat island effect, showcasing how animal movement ecology can directly inform urban geography and climate science. The project highlights interdisciplinary collaboration between ecology, urban geography, and climatology, bridging biological sensing with environmental monitoring.

DOI: 10.1016/j.apgeog.2023.102952

2022 Goldshtein, A., Akrish, S., Giryes, R., Yovel, Y. An artificial neural network explains how bats might use vision for navigation. Communications Biology 5:1–8. This study combined artificial neural networks and bat vision to propose a computational model for how bats could use visual information for large-scale navigation, bridging sensory ecology and machine learning.

DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-04260-5

Current Biology cover, January 4, 2022: a mother bat carrying her pup

Cover: Current Biology, January 4, 2022

2022 Goldshtein, A.†, Harten, L.†, Yovel, Y. Mother bats facilitate pup navigation learning. Current Biology 32:350–360.e4. This study provided the first evidence that mother bats actively guide their pups during flight, demonstrating maternal facilitation of navigation learning in a wild mammal. The article was featured as a cover image in Current Biology and received broad media coverage.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.11.010

Media coverage: Including The New York Times and National Geographic, plus Science (AAAS), Phys.org, and France 24.

2021 Egert-Berg, K., Handel, M., Goldshtein, A., Eitan, O., Borissov, I., Yovel, Y. Fruit bats adjust their foraging strategies to urban environments to diversify their diet. BMC Biology 19:123. This study showed that fruit bats adapt their foraging strategies in urban environments, diversifying their diets to exploit anthropogenic resources.

DOI: 10.1186/s12915-021-01060-x

2021 Krivoruchko, K., Goldshtein, A., Boonman, A., Eitan, O., Ben-Simon, J., Thong, V.D., et al. Fireflies produce ultrasonic clicks during flight as a potential aposematic anti-bat signal. iScience 24:102194. This study found that fireflies emit ultrasonic clicks during flight as a possible anti-bat warning signal, contributing to our understanding of predator–prey acoustic interactions.

DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102194

2020 Boonman, A., Rieger, I., Amichai, E., Greif, S., Eitan, O., Goldshtein, A., et al. Echolocating bats can adjust sensory acquisition based on internal cues. BMC Biology 18:1–10. This study showed that bats flexibly regulate echolocation depending on their internal state, providing insights into adaptive sensory control.

DOI: 10.1186/s12915-020-00904-2

2020 Danilovich, S., Shalev, G., Boonman, A., Goldshtein, A., Yovel, Y. Echolocating bats detect but misperceive a multidimensional incongruent acoustic stimulus. PNAS 117:28475–28484. This study revealed that bats can detect but misinterpret complex acoustic stimuli, advancing understanding of the limits of sensory processing.

DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2005009117

2020 Goldshtein, A., Handel, M., Eitan, O., Bonstein, A., Shaler, T., Collet, S., et al. Decision-Making in the Wild: Reinforcement Learning Enables Resource-Partitioning in Foraging Bats. Current Biology 30(20):4096–4102. This study demonstrated that wild bats use reinforcement learning to partition resources while foraging, providing rare evidence of learning strategies in animal decision-making.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.07.079

2020 Møller, A.P., Senar, J.C., Lambrechts, M.M., Goldshtein, A., et al. Interaction of climate change with effects of conspecific and heterospecific density on reproduction. Oikos 129(12):1807–1819. This large consortium paper (80+ authors) examined how climate change interacts with population density to influence reproductive success in birds.

DOI: 10.1111/oik.07305

Science cover, 2020: "Cognitive Maps", a bat in flight

Cover: Science, 2020

2020 Harten, L.†, Katz, A.†, Goldshtein, A.†, Handel, M., Yovel, Y. The ontogeny of a mammalian cognitive map in the real world. Science 369:194–197. This paper provided the first evidence of cognitive maps in the animal kingdom demonstrated in their natural environment. It marks a major breakthrough in understanding how animals navigate by showing how young bats acquire large-scale spatial knowledge under natural conditions. The study was featured on the cover of Science and had broad international media coverage.

DOI: 10.1126/science.aay3354

Media coverage: Including American Friends of Tel Aviv University, and other international outlets.

2020 Goldshtein, A., Veits, M., Khait, I., Saban, K., Sapir, Y., Yovel, Y., et al. Plants' ability to sense and respond to airborne sound is likely to be adaptive: reply to comment by Pyke et al. Ecology Letters 23:1423–1425. This reply defended and clarified the evidence for plant acoustic sensitivity and adaptive responses to airborne sound, contributing to the debate on sensory ecology in plants.

DOI: 10.1111/ele.13514

2019 Veits, M., Khait, I., Obolski, U., Zinger, E., Boonman, A., Goldshtein, A., et al. Flowers respond to pollinator sound within minutes by increasing nectar sugar concentration. Ecology Letters 22:1483–1492. This study provided the first evidence that plants rapidly adjust their nectar sugar concentration in response to pollinator sounds, pioneering the field of plant bioacoustics.

DOI: 10.1111/ele.13331

Media coverage: The article achieved exceptional media coverage, including The New York Times, National Geographic, The Guardian, and CNN, sparking broad interdisciplinary interest.

2018 Egert-Berg, K., Hurme, E.R., Greif, S., Goldshtein, A., Harten, L., Herrera M., L.G., et al. Resource ephemerality drives social foraging in bats. Current Biology 28:3667–3673.e5. This study demonstrated that ephemeral fruiting resources shape social foraging strategies in bats, comparing the foraging strategies of several bat species and linking ecological dynamics to group behavior.

DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.09.064

2018 Goldshtein, A., Markman, S., Leshem, Y., Puchinsky, M., Charter, M. Nest-site interference competition with House Sparrows affects breeding success and parental care in Great Tits. Journal of Ornithology 159:667–673. This study showed that nest-site competition with House Sparrows reduces breeding success and alters parental care in Great Tits.

DOI: 10.1007/s10336-018-1541-4

Peer-Reviewed Publications