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Wang J, Zhou Q, Zuo T, Wang L, Ma L, Hou J. Three sympatric host nestlings eavesdrop on cuckoo nestling distress calls. Ecol Evol 2024; 14:e11437. [PMID: 38756686 PMCID: PMC11097003 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.11437] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/01/2024] [Revised: 04/27/2024] [Accepted: 05/02/2024] [Indexed: 05/18/2024] Open
Abstract
In predator-prey interactions, the prey faces extreme challenges from predation, which drives the evolution of defense or anti-predator mechanisms. Compared with adult birds, nestlings are more vulnerable but not helpless. However, data on whether nestlings eavesdrop on the danger signals transmitted by other prey nestlings and the mechanisms of eavesdropping remain limited. In brood parasitism, common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) nestlings, raised by host adults who are not closely related, offer an instructive system for studying the transmission and recognition of danger signals among nestlings of different species that share special relationships. We played back the distress calls of common cuckoo nestlings to nestlings of three sympatric host species (the oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis, which is a primary host of the common cuckoo, the reed parrotbill Paradoxornis heudei, an occasional host, and the vinous-throated parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana, which is not parasitized in the study area) to investigate whether the host nestlings reduced their begging behavior. We also quantified the degree of inhibition toward begging behavior for these nestlings. The results revealed that, in response to the distress calls, the three sympatric host species markedly suppressed their begging behavior. This response can likely be attributed to the innate response of host nestlings caused by the general characteristics of distress calls, rather than the acoustic similarity and phylogenetic relationship between host nestlings and cuckoo nestlings. Furthermore, we observed that upon hearing the distress calls of cuckoo nestlings, the oriental reed warbler nestlings exhibited the greatest reduction in the total number of calls compared to the other two host species, potentially owing to stronger predation and parasitic pressures. This study suggests that host nestlings can detect danger signals emitted by parasitic nestlings; however, further investigation is needed to determine whether they can respond to distress calls from unfamiliar nestlings in different regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiaojiao Wang
- College of Life Science, Hebei UniversityBaodingChina
- Engineering Research Center of Ecological Safety and Conservation in Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei (Xiong’an New Area) of MOEBaodingChina
| | - Qindong Zhou
- School of Life SciencesGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
| | - Taijun Zuo
- College of Life Science, Hebei UniversityBaodingChina
| | - Longwu Wang
- School of Life SciencesGuizhou Normal UniversityGuiyangChina
| | - Laikun Ma
- College of Life Science, Hebei UniversityBaodingChina
- Department of Biology and Food ScienceHebei Normal University for NationalitiesChengdeChina
| | - Jianhua Hou
- College of Life Science, Hebei UniversityBaodingChina
- Engineering Research Center of Ecological Safety and Conservation in Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei (Xiong’an New Area) of MOEBaodingChina
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Farrar BG, Vernouillet A, Garcia-Pelegrin E, Legg EW, Brecht KF, Lambert PJ, Elsherif M, Francis S, O'Neill L, Clayton NS, Ostojić L. Reporting and interpreting non-significant results in animal cognition research. PeerJ 2023; 11:e14963. [PMID: 36919170 PMCID: PMC10008313 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.14963] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/10/2022] [Accepted: 02/06/2023] [Indexed: 03/11/2023] Open
Abstract
How statistically non-significant results are reported and interpreted following null hypothesis significance testing is often criticized. This issue is important for animal cognition research because studies in the field are often underpowered to detect theoretically meaningful effect sizes, i.e., often produce non-significant p-values even when the null hypothesis is incorrect. Thus, we manually extracted and classified how researchers report and interpret non-significant p-values and examined the p-value distribution of these non-significant results across published articles in animal cognition and related fields. We found a large amount of heterogeneity in how researchers report statistically non-significant p-values in the result sections of articles, and how they interpret them in the titles and abstracts. Reporting of the non-significant results as "No Effect" was common in the titles (84%), abstracts (64%), and results sections (41%) of papers, whereas reporting of the results as "Non-Significant" was less common in the titles (0%) and abstracts (26%), but was present in the results (52%). Discussions of effect sizes were rare (<5% of articles). A p-value distribution analysis was consistent with research being performed with low power of statistical tests to detect effect sizes of interest. These findings suggest that researchers in animal cognition should pay close attention to the evidence used to support claims of absence of effects in the literature, and-in their own work-report statistically non-significant results clearly and formally correct, as well as use more formal methods of assessing evidence against theoretical predictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Benjamin G Farrar
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.,Institute for Globally Distributed Open Research and Education (IGDORE), Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | | | - Elias Garcia-Pelegrin
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.,Department of Psychology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Edward W Legg
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.,Division of Cognitive Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.,Centre for Mind and Behaviour, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
| | | | - Poppy J Lambert
- Messerli Research Insititute, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
| | - Mahmoud Elsherif
- Department of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.,University of Leicester, Leicester, United Kingdom
| | - Shannon Francis
- Comparative Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Laurie O'Neill
- Comparative Cognition Research Group, Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany
| | - Nicola S Clayton
- Department of Psychology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Ljerka Ostojić
- Department of Psychology, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.,Division of Cognitive Sciences, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia.,Centre for Mind and Behaviour, University of Rijeka, Rijeka, Croatia
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Jiang Y, Han J, Zhang Z, Chen X, Yang C. Parent-offspring and inter-offspring responses to conspecific versus heterospecific distress calls in 2 sympatric birds. Curr Zool 2021; 68:700-707. [PMID: 36743226 PMCID: PMC9892787 DOI: 10.1093/cz/zoab103] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2021] [Accepted: 12/21/2021] [Indexed: 02/07/2023] Open
Abstract
Distress calls, as a type of alarm call, play important roles in expressing bodily condition and conveying information concerning predation threats. In this study, we examined the communication via distress calls in parent-offspring and inter-offspring interactions. First, we used playback of chick distress calls of 2 sympatric breeders, the vinous-throated parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana and the oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis, to the adults/chicks of these 2 species, respectively, and measured the responses of conspecifics or heterospecifics. The playback-to-chicks experiment showed that both species of chicks reduced the number of begging calls and begging duration time as a response to conspecific/heterospecific distress calls compared with natural begging and background noise controls. However, reed warbler chicks also reduced beak opening frequency in the response to conspecific distress calls compared with other playback stimuli. Second, the results of the playback-to-adults experiment showed that reed warbler adults could eavesdrop on distress calls of conspecific neighbors and sympatric heterospecifics. Furthermore, the nest-leaving behavior of reed warblers did not differ significantly when they heard the distress calls of conspecifics or parrotbills. Finally, reed warbler adults responded to heterospecific distress calls more quickly than to conspecific distress calls, and parrotbill adults presented the same response. Our results supported the warn-kin hypothesis and show that chick distress calls play an important role in conveying risk and the condition of chicks to enhance individual fitness. In addition, we also found that eavesdropping on distress calls is a congenital behavior that begins in the chick stage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuxin Jiang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
| | - Jingru Han
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
| | - Ziqi Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
| | - Xiangyang Chen
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands, College of Life Sciences, Hainan Normal University, Haikou 571158, China
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