Alarm Calling in Sri Lankan Mixed-Species Bird Flocks

Goodale, Eben; Kotagama, Sarath W.

doi:10.1642/0004-8038(2005)122[0108:acislm]2.0.co;2

Cited by 79 publications

(91 citation statements)

References 32 publications

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“…Therefore, studies so far that have examined flock assembly have done so entirely in the context of competition (Graves and Gotelli 1993;Gó mez et al 2010). On the other hand, behavioral studies have documented positive interactions in flocks in terms of the use of heterospecific social information (Goodale and Kotagama 2005), copying of foraging behavior (Krebs 1973), and direct benefits such as feeding on prey flushed by other species' movements (e.g., Satischandra et al 2007). Such benefits could in turn lead to higher survival rates for flock participants (Jullien and Clobert 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive Relationships between Association Strength and Phenotypic Similarity Characterize the Assembly of Mixed-Species Bird Flocks Worldwide

Sridhar

Srinivasan²,

Askins³

et al. 2012

The American Naturalist

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102

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., et al. 2012. Positive relationships between association strength and phenotypic similarity characterize the assembly of mixed-species bird flocks worldwide. American Naturalist 180: 777-90. AuthorsHari Sridhar, Umesh Srinivasan, Robert A. Askins, Julio Cesar Canales-Delgadillo, Chao-Chieh Chen Submitted February 10, 2012; Accepted August 1, 2012; Electronically published MONTH? xx, 2012 Online enhancement: appendix. Dryad data: http://dx.doi.org/10.5061/dryad.th198.abstract: Competition theory predicts that local communities should consist of species that are more dissimilar than expected by chance. We find a strikingly different pattern in a multicontinent data set (55 presence-absence matrixes from 24 locations) on the composition of mixed-species bird flocks, which are important subunits of local bird communities the world over. By using null models and randomization tests followed by meta-analysis, we find the association strengths of species in flocks to be strongly related to similarity in body size and foraging behavior and higher for congeneric compared with noncongeneric species pairs. Given the local spatial scales of our individual analyses, differences in the habitat preferences of species are unlikely to have caused these association patterns; the patterns observed are most likely the outcome of species interactions. Extending group-living and social-information-use theory to a heterospecific context, we discuss potential behavioral mechanisms that lead to positive interactions among similar species in flocks, as well as ways in which competition costs are reduced. Our findings highlight the need to consider positive interactions along with competition when seeking to explain community assembly.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Positive Relationships between Association Strength and Phenotypic Similarity Characterize the Assembly of Mixed-Species Bird Flocks Worldwide

Sridhar

Srinivasan²,

Askins³

et al. 2012

The American Naturalist

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102

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“…Interspecific eavesdropping on alarm calls occurs in most vertebrate taxa, including reptiles [1,2], birds [3][4][5][6][7] and mammals [8][9][10]. As well as increasing the likelihood that predators are detected, heterospecific alarm calls can provide early warnings of danger [3,11,12] and information complementing that conveyed by conspecific calls [12,13]. The ability to recognize heterospecific alarm calls can also allow eavesdropping species to reduce vigilance in the presence of heterospecifics, and consequently increase foraging efficiency [14] or the amount of time spent foraging [15,16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Alarming features: birds use specific acoustic properties to identify heterospecific alarm calls

2013

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Vertebrates that eavesdrop on heterospecific alarm calls must distinguish alarms from sounds that can safely be ignored, but the mechanisms for identifying heterospecific alarm calls are poorly understood. While vertebrates learn to identify heterospecific alarms through experience, some can also respond to unfamiliar alarm calls that are acoustically similar to conspecific alarm calls. We used synthetic calls to test the role of specific acoustic properties in alarm call identification by superb fairy-wrens, Malurus cyaneus. Individuals fled more often in response to synthetic calls with peak frequencies closer to those of conspecific calls, even if other acoustic features were dissimilar to that of fairy-wren calls. Further, they then spent more time in cover following calls that had both peak frequencies and frequency modulation rates closer to natural fairy-wren means. Thus, fairy-wrens use similarity in specific acoustic properties to identify alarms and adjust a two-stage antipredator response. Our study reveals how birds respond to heterospecific alarm calls without experience, and, together with previous work using playback of natural calls, shows that both acoustic similarity and learning are important for interspecific eavesdropping. More generally, this study reconciles contrasting views on the importance of alarm signal structure and learning in recognition of heterospecific alarms.

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“…A third explanation is that including mimicry simulates a chorus of alarm calling species, thereby increasing the perceived urgency or reliability of alarm information. Not only may alarm calls from multiple callers be a more reliable indication of danger than alarm calls from a lone caller [25,26], but more dangerous predators, such as hawks, generally provoke aerial alarms from multiple species [27]. Regardless of the exact mechanism, we show that mimicry confers an anti-predator advantage.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

“…During this time, parents mimicked between one and four different species' aerial alarms (average 1.9 + 0.4 s.e.m.). After the simulated attack had finished or when a currawong was merely present nearby, parents produced non-mimetic and mimetic mobbing alarms, such that over the full 5 min mimetic aerial alarm calls were used less often than non-mimetic (potential threat: t 27 In support of a deceptive anti-predator function, currawongs treated all aerial alarms as if they were themselves threatened by a predator in flight, and the specific benefit of incorporating mimicry was prolonging this distraction (figure 3a; electronic supplementary material, video S1). Currawongs were more likely to scan the sky or flee following either alarm playback than following song, suggesting that they were deceived by thornbill alarms (McNemar's test versus song: non-mimetic alone: x 2 1 ¼ 15:1, p , 0.001; mixture: x 2 1 ¼ 12:5, p , 0.001; figure 3a).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As no flying predator is present, the production of aerial alarm calls by thornbills during nest defence conveys inaccurate information about danger and may serve to deceive predators into responding as if they themselves are in immediate danger from above [14,24]. Mimicking a chorus of aerial alarm calls may also simulate multiple callers, a reliable indication of immediate danger [20,[25][26][27], which may increase the effectiveness of deception.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Crying wolf to a predator: deceptive vocal mimicry by a bird protecting young

et al. 2015

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Animals often mimic dangerous or toxic species to deter predators; however, mimicry of such species may not always be possible and mimicry of benign species seems unlikely to confer anti-predator benefits. We reveal a system in which a bird mimics the alarm calls of harmless species to fool a predator 40 times its size and protect its offspring against attack. Our experiments revealed that brown thornbills (Acanthiza pusilla) mimic a chorus of other species' aerial alarm calls, a cue of an Accipiter hawk in flight, when predators attack their nest. The absence of any flying predators in this context implies that these alarms convey deceptive information about the type of danger present. Experiments on the primary nest predators of thornbills, pied currawongs (Strepera graculina), revealed that the predators treat these alarms as if they themselves are threatened by flying hawks, either by scanning the sky for danger or fleeing, confirming a deceptive function. In turn, these distractions delay attack and provide thornbill nestlings with an opportunity to escape. This sophisticated defence strategy exploits the complex web of interactions among multiple species across several trophic levels, and in particular exploits a predator's ability to eavesdrop on and respond appropriately to heterospecific alarm calls. Our findings demonstrate that prey can fool predators by deceptively mimicking alarm calls of harmless species, suggesting that defensive mimicry could be more widespread because of indirect effects on predators within a web of eavesdropping.

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Alarm Calling in Sri Lankan Mixed-Species Bird Flocks

Cited by 79 publications

References 32 publications

Positive Relationships between Association Strength and Phenotypic Similarity Characterize the Assembly of Mixed-Species Bird Flocks Worldwide

Positive Relationships between Association Strength and Phenotypic Similarity Characterize the Assembly of Mixed-Species Bird Flocks Worldwide

Alarming features: birds use specific acoustic properties to identify heterospecific alarm calls

Crying wolf to a predator: deceptive vocal mimicry by a bird protecting young

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