Foraging strategies of a predator are shaped by numerous ecological variables. One aspect of foraging strategy focuses on an individual’s space use, which could be driven either by resources or group living. However, not many studies have examined how both resources and group living could together contribute to the space use decisions made by a predator. Moreover, in the group-living context, influence of group sizes on an individual’s space use decisions has rarely been studied. The first objective would be to address these research gaps using the group-living bat species, Megaderma spasma as a model organism.
On a smaller spatial and temporal scale, foraging strategy of a predator could be determined by the distribution and detectability of its prey resources. Previous studies have shown that predators are attracted towards prey aggregates due to increased detectability but their capture success in aggregates might reduce due to the confusion effect. Most studies have examined such predator behaviour in the visual and not in the auditory context. My second objective would be to address this research gap using the bat species, Megaderma spasma as a model organism since they can use both echolocation and prey-generated sounds to capture their prey.