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Moskát C, Hauber ME. Syntax errors do not disrupt acoustic communication in the common cuckoo. Sci Rep 2022; 12:1568. [PMID: 35091655 PMCID: PMC8799703 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05661-6] [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: 10/08/2021] [Accepted: 01/11/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
When acoustic communication signals are distorted, receivers may misunderstand the signal, rendering it ineffective. Common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) are popularly known for the males' simple, two-note advertisement calls, the "cu-coo" used for declaring the male's breeding territories. Cuckoos do not learn their calls (vocal non-learners), so they are expected to have a limited ability to produce different acoustic signals. Nevertheless, male cuckoos appear to make syntax errors (e.g., repeated, reversed, or fragmented elements) even in their simple advertisement calls. We conducted a playback experiment with male cuckoos, broadcasting ten call types, including seven modified calls with errors (e.g. "cu-cu", and "coo-cu") and three natural calls used for comparisons ("cu-coo", "cu-cu-coo", and interspecific control). Male cuckoos responded in a manner suggesting that the presence of the first ("cu") note of the natural 2-note "cu-coo" call in any form or combination yield effective signals. However, through the elevated frequency (by about 200 Hz) and greater speed of the "cu" note, the natural 3-note version "cu-cu-coo" call appears to have gained a novel communicative function in signalling with female cuckoos. Thus, syntax errors in calls with the "cu" element are not responsible for changing the function of the male cuckoos' "cu-coo" call.
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Affiliation(s)
- Csaba Moskát
- MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, a Joint Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, The Biological Institute, Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány P. st. 1/C, Budapest, 1117, Hungary. .,Hungarian Natural History Museum, Baross u. 13., Budapest, 1088, Hungary.
| | - Márk E. Hauber
- grid.35403.310000 0004 1936 9991Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Behavior, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 505 S. Goodwin Avenue, Urbana, IL 61801 USA
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Werba JA, Stuckert AM, Edwards M, McCoy MW. Stranger danger: A meta-analysis of the dear enemy hypothesis. Behav Processes 2021; 194:104542. [PMID: 34818561 DOI: 10.1016/j.beproc.2021.104542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/18/2021] [Revised: 11/10/2021] [Accepted: 11/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/01/2023]
Abstract
The dear enemy hypothesis predicts that territorial individuals will be less aggressive toward known neighbors than to strangers. This hypothesis has been well studied and there is a wealth of data demonstrating its prevalence in some taxa. However, a quantitative synthesis is needed to test the generality of the phenomenon, identify key mechanisms driving the behavior, and guide future research. In this study, we conduct a meta-analysis and, we test the importance of the location of intrusion, the type of experiment conducted (field, laboratory, or neutral arenas), and the sex and breeding status of territory holders, on the occurrence of dear enemy behavior. We also test how various ecological and life history traits, such as territory type, stimulus of intrusion, and taxonomic group, affect the magnitude of dear enemy behavior. We find that this phenomenon is common and that taxonomic class and breeding status are correlated with the expression of dear enemy behaviors. Further, we found that the way authors measure aggression influences the likelihood of identifying dear enemy responses, and thus we discuss potential pitfalls of dear enemy studies. Considering this conclusion, we discuss future lines of inquiry that could more directly examine the mechanisms of the dear enemy phenomenon.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jo A Werba
- Department Ecosystem Sciences and Management, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
| | - Adam Mm Stuckert
- Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH 03857, USA
| | - Matthew Edwards
- Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, OH 44106, USA
| | - Michael W McCoy
- Department of Biology, East Carolina University, Greenville NC 27858, USA
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Esposito M, Ceraulo M, Tuliozi B, Buscaino G, Mazzola S, Sala L, Dal Zotto M, Campobello D. Decoupled Acoustic and Visual Components in the Multimodal Signals of the Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.725858] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Because of its parasitic habits, reproduction costs of the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) are mostly spent in pre-laying activities. Female costs are limited to searching host nests and laying eggs, whereas, males spend time in performing intense vocal displays, possibly with territorial purpose. This last aspect, together with a sexual plumage dimorphism, points to both intra- and inter-sexual selections operating within this species. One element triggering sexual selection is a differential fitness accrued by different phenotypes. Before analyzing possible sexual selection mechanisms operating in cuckoos, it is therefore necessary to verify whether there is a variability among male secondary characters by describing and quantifying them. Here we aimed to quantitatively characterize the main two potential candidates of sexual selection traits, i.e., calls and displays, shown by males at perches. During the 2019 breeding season, in a site within the Po Plain, we both audio and video recorded cuckoo males at five different perches. We analyzed acoustic variables as well as display sequences searching for potential correlations. We found a significant variation among calls that could be clustered into four vocal types. We also found that no visual displays were associated with vocal displays; cuckoo males were either vocal and motionless or soundless and active. We discuss our results under the perspective of the potential value of sexual selection in brood parasites and its role in its parasitic habit.
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Moskát C, Taylor DM, Hauber ME. Effective conspecific communication with aberrant calls in the common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2021. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-020-02946-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/22/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The obligate brood parasitic common cuckoo (Cuculus canorus) is best known for its two-note “cu-coo” call, which is uttered repeatedly by adult males during the breeding season. This call advertises the male’s claim for his territory. A rare, aberrant version (“cu-kee”) was discovered in a population of cuckoos in central Hungary. In a playback experiment, we simulated conspecific territorial intrusions using either aberrant call sequences or normal calls (as control). Cuckoos responded to both calls similarly by approaching the speaker, flying around it several times, and perching on nearby trees. To identify the role of each note of these cuckoo calls, we also played sequences of the first (“cu”) or second (“coo” or “kee”) notes of the calls. Territorial males responded to first notes at similarly high frequencies as to each of the full calls, whereas responses toward either second note type were nearly absent. Thus, the first notes of both typical and aberrant cuckoo calls contain sufficient information to recognize conspecific males and the novel calls did not reduce the efficiency of male-male communication in cuckoos because the aberration occurred in the less functional second note.
Significance statement
Birds use songs and calls to communicate with each other, including advertising their territories to keep competitors away. However, when the acoustic signal is atypical and distorted, the receiver individual may not process it correctly. Common cuckoos recognize a territorial intruder by their well-known “cu-coo” calls. We studied a rare, aberrant version of the common cuckoo call (“cu-kee”), which differed from the normal call in the second note of the two-partite call. However, cuckoos responded similarly to both of the normal and aberrant calls in a playback experiment. When the first or second parts of the different calls were played separately, only the first part of the cuckoo calls was effective in eliciting territorial defence. Consequently, the aberrant second note did not reduce cuckoos’ communication efficiency.
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Marton A, Fülöp A, Ozogány K, Moskát C, Bán M. Host alarm calls attract the unwanted attention of the brood parasitic common cuckoo. Sci Rep 2019; 9:18563. [PMID: 31811179 PMCID: PMC6898711 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-54909-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/27/2019] [Accepted: 11/19/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022] Open
Abstract
It is well known that avian brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species, called hosts. It remains less clear, however, just how parasites are able to recognize their hosts and identify the exact location of the appropriate nests to lay their eggs in. While previous studies attributed high importance to visual signals in finding the hosts’ nests (e.g. nest building activity or the distance and direct sight of the nest from vantage points used by the brood parasites), the role of host acoustic signals during the nest searching stage has been largely neglected. We present experimental evidence that both female and male common cuckoos Cuculus canorus pay attention to their host’s, the great reed warbler’s Acrocephalus arundinaceus alarm calls, relative to the calls of an unparasitized species used as controls. Parallel to this, we found no difference between the visibility of parasitized and unparasitized nests during drone flights, but great reed warblers that alarmed more frequently experienced higher rates of parasitism. We conclude that alarm calls might be advantageous for the hosts when used against enemies or for alerting conspecifics, but can act in a detrimental manner by providing important nest location cues for eavesdropping brood parasites. Our results suggest that host alarm calls may constitute a suitable trait on which cuckoo nestlings can imprint on to recognize their primary host species later in life. Our study contributes to the growing body of knowledge regarding the context-dependency of animal signals, by providing a novel example of a beneficial acoustic trait intercepted by a heterospecific and used against the emitter.
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Affiliation(s)
- Attila Marton
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary. .,Juhász-Nagy Pál Doctoral School, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.
| | - Attila Fülöp
- Juhász-Nagy Pál Doctoral School, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.,MTA-DE Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Katalin Ozogány
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Csaba Moskát
- MTA-ELTE-MTM Ecology Research Group, a joint research group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, The Biological Institute of the Eötvös Loránd University and the Hungarian Natural History Museum, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Miklós Bán
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary.,MTA-DE Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
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Xia C, Deng Z, Lloyd H, Møller AP, Zhao X, Zhang Y. The function of three main call types in common cuckoo. Ethology 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/eth.12918] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Canwei Xia
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences Beijing Normal University Beijing China
| | - Zhuqing Deng
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences Beijing Normal University Beijing China
| | - Huw Lloyd
- Division of Biology and Conservation Ecology, School of Science and the Environment Manchester Metropolitan University Manchester UK
| | - Anders Pape Møller
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences Beijing Normal University Beijing China
- Ecologie Systématique Evolution, Université Paris‐Sud, CNRS, AgroParisTech Université Paris‐Saclay Orsay Cedex France
| | - Xiaomeng Zhao
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences Beijing Normal University Beijing China
| | - Yanyun Zhang
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Biodiversity and Ecological Engineering, College of Life Sciences Beijing Normal University Beijing China
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Moskát C, Hauber ME. Sex-specific responses to simulated territorial intrusions in the common cuckoo: a dual function of female acoustic signaling. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s00265-019-2665-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
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Tryjanowski P, Morelli F, Osiejuk TS, Møller AP. Functional significance of cuckoo Cuculus canorus calls: responses of conspecifics, hosts and non-hosts. PeerJ 2018; 6:e5302. [PMID: 30245923 PMCID: PMC6149496 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.5302] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Accepted: 07/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Male cuckoos Cuculus canorus produce calls that differ in number of syllables depending on environmental conditions and presence of male and female conspecifics. Why different males produce so repeatable calls that vary greatly in duration among males remains an open question. We used playback of cuckoo calls with few or many syllables (hereafter short and long calls), and woodpigeon calls (a control that also produces few or many syllables), predicting that playback of longer cuckoo calls should attract more male cuckoos (if males with such calls are dominant and successfully out-compete other males due to intraspecific competition), and attract more hosts mobbing male cuckoos (cuckoos with such calls and their females attract more hosts because of an increased risk of parasitism). Because cuckoos differentially parasitize hosts away from human habitation, we also tested whether the number of syllables in cuckoo calls differed with distance from buildings. Playback showed significant effects of number of syllables in cuckoo calls, but not woodpigeon Columba palumbus calls, with an additional effect of distance from human habitation decreasing the response to playback. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that longer cuckoo calls, especially played back near human habitation, attract more conspecifics and hosts than shorter calls. To the best of knowledge this is the first study showing that cuckoo call response modified both other cuckoo individuals, as well as hosts response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Piotr Tryjanowski
- Institute of Zoology, Poznań University of Life Sciences, Poznań, Poland
| | - Federico Morelli
- Faculty of Environmental Sciences, Department of Applied Geoinformatics and Spatial Planning, Czech University of Life Science, Prague, Czech Republic
| | - Tomasz S Osiejuk
- Department of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University of Poznań, Poznań, Poland
| | - Anders Pape Møller
- Department Ecologie Systématique Evolution, CNRS, AgroParisTech, Université Paris Sud (Paris XI), Orsay Cedex, France
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