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Watson SK, Filippi P, Gasparri L, Falk N, Tamer N, Widmer P, Manser M, Glock H. Optionality in animal communication: a novel framework for examining the evolution of arbitrariness. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2022; 97:2057-2075. [PMID: 35818133 PMCID: PMC9795909 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12882] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/06/2021] [Revised: 06/14/2022] [Accepted: 06/16/2022] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Abstract
A critical feature of language is that the form of words need not bear any perceptual similarity to their function - these relationships can be 'arbitrary'. The capacity to process these arbitrary form-function associations facilitates the enormous expressive power of language. However, the evolutionary roots of our capacity for arbitrariness, i.e. the extent to which related abilities may be shared with animals, is largely unexamined. We argue this is due to the challenges of applying such an intrinsically linguistic concept to animal communication, and address this by proposing a novel conceptual framework highlighting a key underpinning of linguistic arbitrariness, which is nevertheless applicable to non-human species. Specifically, we focus on the capacity to associate alternative functions with a signal, or alternative signals with a function, a feature we refer to as optionality. We apply this framework to a broad survey of findings from animal communication studies and identify five key dimensions of communicative optionality: signal production, signal adjustment, signal usage, signal combinatoriality and signal perception. We find that optionality is widespread in non-human animals across each of these dimensions, although only humans demonstrate it in all five. Finally, we discuss the relevance of optionality to behavioural and cognitive domains outside of communication. This investigation provides a powerful new conceptual framework for the cross-species investigation of the origins of arbitrariness, and promises to generate original insights into animal communication and language evolution more generally.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stuart K. Watson
- Department of Comparative Language ScienceUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language EvolutionUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichWinterthurerstrasse 1908057ZurichSwitzerland
| | - Piera Filippi
- Department of Comparative Language ScienceUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language EvolutionUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Department of PhilosophyUniversity of ZurichZurichbergstrasse 438044ZürichSwitzerland
| | - Luca Gasparri
- Department of PhilosophyUniversity of ZurichZurichbergstrasse 438044ZürichSwitzerland,Univ. Lille, CNRS, UMR 8163 – STL – Savoirs Textes LangageF‐59000LilleFrance
| | - Nikola Falk
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language EvolutionUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichWinterthurerstrasse 1908057ZurichSwitzerland
| | - Nicole Tamer
- Department of Comparative Language ScienceUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language EvolutionUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland
| | - Paul Widmer
- Department of Comparative Language ScienceUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language EvolutionUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland
| | - Marta Manser
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language EvolutionUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental StudiesUniversity of ZurichWinterthurerstrasse 1908057ZurichSwitzerland
| | - Hans‐Johann Glock
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language EvolutionUniversity of ZurichAffolternstrasse 568050ZürichSwitzerland,Department of PhilosophyUniversity of ZurichZurichbergstrasse 438044ZürichSwitzerland
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Montenegro C, Sahu PK, Sturdy CB. Individual acoustic differences in female black-capped chickadee (poecile atricapillus) fee-bee songs. THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2021; 150:3038. [PMID: 34717515 DOI: 10.1121/10.0006532] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/19/2021] [Accepted: 09/10/2021] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
In songbirds, song has traditionally been considered a vocalization mainly produced by males. However, recent research suggests that both sexes produce song. While the function and structure of male black-capped chickadee (Poecile atricapillus) fee-bee song have been well-studied, research on female song is comparatively limited. Past discrimination and playback studies have shown that male black-capped chickadees can discriminate between individual males via their fee-bee songs. Recently, we have shown that male and female black-capped chickadees can identify individual females via their fee-bee song even when presented with only the bee position of the song. Our results using discriminant function analyses (DFA) support that female songs are individually distinctive. We found that songs could be correctly classified to the individual (81%) and season (97%) based on several acoustic features including but not limited to bee-note duration and fee-note peak frequency. In addition, an artificial neural network was trained to identify individuals based on the selected DFA acoustic features and was able to achieve 90% accuracy by individual and 93% by season. While this study provides a quantitative description of the acoustic structure of female song, the perception and function of female song in this species requires further investigation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carolina Montenegro
- Department of Psychology, P-217 University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2R3, Canada
| | - Prateek K Sahu
- Department of Psychology, P-217 University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2R3, Canada
| | - Christopher B Sturdy
- Department of Psychology, P-217 University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, T6G 2R3, Canada
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3
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Female song in eastern bluebirds varies in acoustic structure according to social context. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2020. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-020-2824-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
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4
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Chen G, Xia C, Zhang Y. Individual identification of birds with complex songs: The case of green-backed flycatchers Ficedula elisae. Behav Processes 2020; 173:104063. [PMID: 32006620 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2020.104063] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/21/2019] [Revised: 01/03/2020] [Accepted: 01/27/2020] [Indexed: 02/05/2023]
Abstract
Vocal individual identification has been demonstrated in many animals, with discriminant function analysis (DFA) and spectrographic cross-correlation (SPCC) being the two most frequent methods. Successful vocal individual identification requires high among-individual differences and within-individual stability over time for vocal features. Lack of vocal individual identification is common in songbirds with complex songs, and most vocal individual identification studies are made in bird species with simple vocalizations. Here, we applied vocal individual identification with the two methods on a songbird, green-backed flycatcher Ficedula elisae. We based its complex songs by division into first, second, and third phrases. DFA resulted in a correct distinction rate of 94.5 % between one first-phrase type and another. SPCC similarity was significantly higher within than among types for first and second phrases, respectively. For first-phrase types with recordings from different days during a breeding season, the correct DFA rate was 87.1 %. SPCC similarity within type changed significantly among days, but was still significantly higher than that among types. In conclusion, first phrases of the complex songs met the two requirements and could be effectively used for vocal individual identification in this species. This study filled a gap in vocal individual identification in birds with complex songs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gong Chen
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Canwei Xia
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
| | - Yanyun Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China.
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5
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Farrow LF, Barati A, McDonald PG. Cooperative bird discriminates between individuals based purely on their aerial alarm calls. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz182] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
AbstractFrom an evolutionary perspective, the ability to recognize individuals provides great selective advantages, such as avoiding inbreeding depression during breeding. Whilst the capacity to recognize individuals for these types of benefits is well established in social contexts, why this recognition might arise in a potentially deadly alarm-calling context following predator encounters is less obvious. For example, in most avian systems, alarm signals directed toward aerial predators represent higher predation risk and vulnerability than when individuals vocalize toward a terrestrial-based predator. Although selection should favor simple, more effective alarm calls to these dangerous aerial predators, the potential of these signals to nonetheless encode additional information such as caller identity has not received a great deal of attention. We tested for individual discrimination capacity in the aerial alarm vocalizations of the noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala), a highly social honeyeater that has been previously shown to be able to discriminate between the terrestrial alarm signals of individuals. Utilizing habituation–discrimination paradigm testing, we found conclusive evidence of individual discrimination in the aerial alarm calls of noisy miners, which was surprisingly of similar efficiency to their ability to discriminate between less urgent terrestrial alarm signals. Although the mechanism(s) driving this behavior is currently unclear, it most likely occurs as a result of selection favoring individualism among other social calls in the repertoire of this cooperative species. This raises the intriguing possibility that individualistic signatures in vocalizations of social animals might be more widespread than currently appreciated, opening new areas of bioacoustics research.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucy F Farrow
- Behavioural and Physiological Ecology Research Centre, Department of Zoology, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Ahmad Barati
- Behavioural and Physiological Ecology Research Centre, Department of Zoology, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
| | - Paul G McDonald
- Behavioural and Physiological Ecology Research Centre, Department of Zoology, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
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Landsborough B, Wilson DR, Mennill DJ. Variation in chick-a-dee call sequences, not in the fine structure of chick-a-dee calls, influences mobbing behaviour in mixed-species flocks. Behav Ecol 2019. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arz155] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Abstract
When animals vocalize under the threat of predation, variation in the structure of calls can play a vital role in survival. The chick-a-dee calls of chickadees and titmice provide a model system for studying communication in such contexts. In previous studies, birds’ responses to chick-a-dee calls covaried with call structure, but also with unmeasured and correlated parameters of the calling sequence, including duty cycle (the proportion of the calling sequence when a signal was present). In this study, we exposed flocks of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) and heterospecific birds to playback of chick-a-dee calls and taxidermic models of predators. We quantified birds’ responses to variation in number of D notes and duty cycle of the signalling sequence. Chickadees and heterospecific birds responded more intensely to high-duty-cycle treatments, and equally to treatments where duty cycle was held constant and the number of D notes varied. Although our study does not disentangle the effects of call rate and duty cycle, it is the first to investigate independently the behavioural responses of birds to variation in structural and sequence-level parameters of the chick-a-dee call during a predator confrontation. Critically, our results confirm that the pattern previously observed in a feeding context holds true in a mobbing context: variation in calling sequences, not in call structure, is the salient acoustic feature of chick-a-dee calls. These results call into question the idea that chick-a-dee call structure carries allometric information about predator size, suggesting instead that sequence-level parameters play a central role in communication in a mobbing context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Blaine Landsborough
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
| | - David R Wilson
- Department of Psychology, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Newfoundland, Canada
| | - Daniel J Mennill
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario, Canada
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8
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González-García F, Sosa-López JR, Ornelas JF, Jordano P, Rico-Gray V, Urios Moliner V. Individual variation in the booming calls of captive Horned Guans (Oreophasis derbianus): an endangered Neotropical mountain bird. BIOACOUSTICS 2016. [DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2016.1233513] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Fernando González-García
- Red Biología y Conservación de Vertebrados, Instituto de Ecología, Xalapa, Mexico
- Centro Iberoamericano de la Biodiversidad (CIBIO), Campus San Vicente del Raspeig Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, España
- CONACYT-Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional Unidad Oaxaca (CIIDIR), Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, Mexico
| | - J. Roberto Sosa-López
- CONACYT-Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional Unidad Oaxaca (CIIDIR), Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Santa Cruz Xoxocotlán, Mexico
| | | | | | - Victor Rico-Gray
- Instituto de Neuroetología, Universidad Veracruzana, Xalapa, México
| | - Vicente Urios Moliner
- Campus San Vicente del Raspeig, Edificio Ciencias III, Universidad de Alicante, Alicante, España
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9
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Colombelli-Négrel D. Female splendid and variegated fairy-wrens display different strategies during territory defence. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.07.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/29/2022]
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10
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Moser-Purdy C, Mennill DJ. Large vocal repertoires do not constrain the dear enemy effect: a playback experiment and comparative study of songbirds. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.05.011] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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11
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Wilson DR, Ratcliffe LM, Mennill DJ. Black-capped chickadees, Poecile atricapillus, avoid song overlapping: evidence for the acoustic interference hypothesis. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2016.02.002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
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12
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Hahn AH, Hoeschele M, Guillette LM, Hoang J, McMillan N, Congdon JV, Campbell KA, Mennill DJ, Otter KA, Grava T, Ratcliffe LM, Sturdy CB. Black-capped chickadees categorize songs based on features that vary geographically. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.11.017] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/16/2022]
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13
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Nichols MR, Yorzinski JL. Peahens can differentiate between the antipredator calls of individual conspecifics. Anim Behav 2016. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.11.016] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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McMillan N, Hahn AH, Spetch ML, Sturdy CB. Avian cognition: examples of sophisticated capabilities in space and song. WILEY INTERDISCIPLINARY REVIEWS. COGNITIVE SCIENCE 2015; 6:285-97. [PMID: 26263230 DOI: 10.1002/wcs.1346] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/12/2014] [Revised: 01/21/2015] [Accepted: 02/08/2015] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Although birds have traditionally and colloquially been considered less cognitively complex than mammals, and especially primates, more recent research has consistently refuted these assumptions. We argue that the impressive abilities of birds to navigate and communicate require considerable information-processing capabilities. These capacities include collecting, organizing, and selecting from a wide variety of navigational cues to orient toward and find a goal location in the spatial domain, and utilizing open-ended categorization and possibly even abstract reasoning to discriminate species-specific acoustic features of songs and calls. Furthermore, these abilities may be present across many avian species, providing evidence for domain-general cognitive facilities. We provide examples of processes in spatial learning and communication in birds, and locate them within the general literature, as evidence that the term 'bird-brain' should not be considered a pejorative.
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Affiliation(s)
- Neil McMillan
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Allison H Hahn
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Marcia L Spetch
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
| | - Christopher B Sturdy
- Department of Psychology & the Neuroscience and Mental Health Institute, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada
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15
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Ehnes M, Foote J. Comparison of autonomous and manual recording methods for discrimination of individually distinctive Ovenbird songs. BIOACOUSTICS 2014. [DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2014.994228] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/24/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- M. Ehnes
- Department of Biology, Algoma University, Sault Ste Marie, ON, Canada
| | - J.R. Foote
- Department of Biology, Algoma University, Sault Ste Marie, ON, Canada
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16
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Warrington MH, McDonald PG, Griffith SC. Within-group vocal differentiation of individuals in the cooperatively breeding apostlebird. Behav Ecol 2014. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/aru217] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
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17
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Wilson D. Animal Communication: Keep Your Wings Off My Food! Curr Biol 2014; 24:R319-21. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2014.03.020] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
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18
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Sandoval L, Méndez C, Mennill DJ. Individual Distinctiveness in the Fine Structural Features and Repertoire Characteristics of the Songs of White-eared Ground-sparrows. Ethology 2014. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/28/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Luis Sandoval
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Windsor; Windsor ON Canada
| | - Carolina Méndez
- Laboratorio de Bioacústica Escuela de Biología; Universidad de Costa Rica; San Pedro Costa Rica
| | - Daniel J. Mennill
- Department of Biological Sciences; University of Windsor; Windsor ON Canada
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Female song in black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus): Acoustic song features that contain individual identity information and sex differences. Behav Processes 2013; 98:98-105. [DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2013.05.006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 26] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2013] [Revised: 05/10/2013] [Accepted: 05/11/2013] [Indexed: 11/15/2022]
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20
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Foote JR, Palazzi E, Mennill DJ. Songs of the Eastern Phoebe, a suboscine songbird, are individually distinctive but do not vary geographically. BIOACOUSTICS 2013. [DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2012.740174] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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21
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Cheng J, Xie B, Lin C, Ji L. A comparative study in birds: call-type-independent species and individual recognition using four machine-learning methods and two acoustic features. BIOACOUSTICS 2012. [DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2012.669664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/28/2022]
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22
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Long-term memory for affiliates in ravens. Curr Biol 2012; 22:801-6. [PMID: 22521788 PMCID: PMC3348500 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2012.03.023] [Citation(s) in RCA: 76] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/18/2011] [Revised: 02/07/2012] [Accepted: 03/08/2012] [Indexed: 11/23/2022]
Abstract
Complex social life requires individuals to recognize and remember group members [1] and, within those, to distinguish affiliates from nonaffiliates. Whereas long-term individual recognition has been demonstrated in some nonhuman animals [2–5], memory for the relationship valence to former group members has received little attention. Here we show that adult, pair-housed ravens not only respond differently to the playback of calls from previous group members and unfamiliar conspecifics but also discriminate between familiar birds according to the relationship valence they had to those subjects up to three years ago as subadult nonbreeders. The birds' distinction between familiar and unfamiliar individuals is reflected mainly in the number of calls, whereas their differentiation according to relationship valence is reflected in call modulation only. As compared to their response to affiliates, ravens responded to nonaffiliates by increasing chaotic parts of the vocalization and lowering formant spacing, potentially exaggerating the perceived impression of body size. Our findings indicate that ravens remember relationship qualities to former group members even after long periods of separation, confirming that their sophisticated social knowledge as nonbreeders is maintained into the territorial breeding stage.
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Toth CA, Mennill DJ, Ratcliffe LM. Evidence for multicontest eavesdropping in chickadees. Behav Ecol 2012. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/ars038] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/20/2023] Open
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McDonald PG. Cooperative bird differentiates between the calls of different individuals, even when vocalizations were from completely unfamiliar individuals. Biol Lett 2012; 8:365-8. [PMID: 22258445 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.1118] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Hypotheses proposed to explain the evolution of cooperative behaviour typically require differentiation between either groups of conspecifics (e.g. kin/non-kin) or, more typically, individuals (e.g. reciprocal altruism). Despite this, the mechanisms that facilitate individual or class recognition have rarely been explored in cooperative species. This study examines the individual differentiation abilities of noisy miners (Manorina melanocephala), a species with one of the most complex avian societies known. Miners permanently occupy colonies numbering into hundreds of individuals. Within these colonies, cooperative coalitions form on a fission-fusion basis across numerous contexts, from social foraging through to mobbing predators. Birds often use individually distinctive 'chur' calls to recruit others to a caller's location, facilitating coalition formation. I used the habituation-discrimination paradigm to test the ability of miners to differentiate between the chur calls of two individuals that were both either: (i) familiar, or (ii) unfamiliar to the focal subject. This technique had not, to my knowledge, been used to assess vocalization differentiation in cooperative birds previously, but here demonstrated that miners could correctly use the spectral features of signals to differentiate between the vocalizations of different individuals, regardless of their familiarity. By attending to individual differences in recruitment calls, miners have a communication system that is capable of accommodating even the most complex cooperative hypotheses based upon acoustic information.
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Affiliation(s)
- Paul G McDonald
- Behavioural and Physiological Ecology Research Centre, Zoology, University of New England, Armidale 2351, Australia.
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25
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Wilson DR, Mennill DJ. Duty cycle, not signal structure, explains conspecific and heterospecific responses to the calls of Black-capped Chickadees (Poecileatricapillus). Behav Ecol 2011. [DOI: 10.1093/beheco/arr051] [Citation(s) in RCA: 28] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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26
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Moscicki MK, Hoeschele M, Bloomfield LL, Modanu M, Charrier I, Sturdy CB. Note types and coding in Parid vocalizations: the chick-a-dee call of the boreal chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus). THE JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA 2011; 129:3327-3340. [PMID: 21568433 DOI: 10.1121/1.3560925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/30/2023]
Abstract
An important first step in characterizing a vocalization is to classify, describe, and measure the elements of that vocalization. Here, this methodology is employed to study the chick-a-dee call of the boreal chickadee (Poecile hudsonicus). The note types (A, B, C, D, and D(h)) in a sample of boreal chickadee calls are identified and described, spectral and temporal features of each note type are analyzed, and production phenomena in each note type are identified and quantified. Acoustic variability is compared across note types and individuals to determine potential features used for note-type and individual discrimination. Frequency measures appear to be the most useful features for identifying note types and individuals, though total duration may also be useful. Call syntax reveals that boreal chick-a-dee calls follow a general rule of note-type order, namely A-B-C-D(h)-D, and that any note type in this sequence may be repeated or omitted. This work provides a thorough description of the boreal chickadee chick-a-dee call and will serve as a foundation for future studies aimed at elucidating this call's functional significance within this species, as well as for studies comparing chick-a-dee calls across Poecile species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Michele K Moscicki
- Department of Psychology, University of Alberta, P217 Biological Sciences Building, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2E9, Canada
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27
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Contact calls are used for individual mate recognition in free-ranging green-rumped parrotlets, Forpus passerinus. Anim Behav 2011. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2010.10.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 40] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
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