Mountain chickadees adjust songs, calls and chorus composition with increasing ambient and experimental anthropogenic noise

LaZerte, Steffi; Otter, Ken A.; Slabbekoorn, Hans

doi:10.1007/s11252-017-0652-7

Cited by 35 publications

(48 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…Further, we initially included an index of habitat urbanization (derived from PCA analysis of habitat characteristics assessed from Google Earth maps; methodology described in detail in [43]) as a covariate, and confirmed that there was no significant relationship between habitat structure and any of our response variables (with or without including local ambient noise levels, all p . 0.05).…”

Section: (C) Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Learning to cope: vocal adjustment to urban noise is correlated with prior experience in black-capped chickadees

2016

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Urban noise can interfere with avian communication through masking, but birds can reduce this interference by altering their vocalizations. Although several experimental studies indicate that birds can rapidly change their vocalizations in response to sudden increases in ambient noise, none have investigated whether this is a learned response that depends on previous exposure. Black-capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) change the frequency of their songs in response to both fluctuating traffic noise and experimental noise. We investigated whether these responses to fluctuating noise depend on familiarity with noise. We confirmed that males in noisy areas sang higher-frequency songs than those in quiet areas, but found that only males in already-noisy territories shifted songs upwards in immediate response to experimental noise. Unexpectedly, males in more quiet territories shifted songs downwards in response to experimental noise. These results suggest that chickadees may require prior experience with fluctuating noise to adjust vocalizations in such a way as to minimize masking. Thus, learning to cope may be an important part of adjusting to acoustic life in the city.

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Section: (C) Measurementsmentioning

confidence: 72%

Learning to cope: vocal adjustment to urban noise is correlated with prior experience in black-capped chickadees

2016

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“…Because our study sites varied along a gradient from natural habitat to urban neighbourhoods, we used a habitat index developed by LaZerte, Otter, and Slabbekoorn (; scripts available from https://github.com/steffilazerte/urbanization-index) to assess ground cover and measure the degree of habitat urbanization at each nest location. We used R v3.3.2 (R Core Team, ) to plot a 75 m radius around each nest box location (approximately the size of the average territory) in Google Earth (Google Inc., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Because our study sites varied along a gradient from natural habitat to urban neighbourhoods, we used a habitat index developed by LaZerte, Otter, and Slabbekoorn (2017;…”

Section: Habitat Indexmentioning

confidence: 99%

Patterns of extra‐pair paternity in mountain chickadees

et al. 2018

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Extra‐pair paternity (EPP) is common in chickadees and often attributed to the good genes hypothesis. Females generally seek dominant males, who are typically larger, older and sing at higher rates than subordinate males, as extra‐pair sires. In other songbird species, habitat quality and urbanization have been found to influence EPP. Mountain chickadees commonly inhabit suburban habitat, and previous research on our population has shown urbanization may provide benefits to these adaptable songbirds. Here, we ask how individual condition and urbanization influence rates of EPP in mountain chickadees. Over three breeding seasons, we monitored mountain chickadee nests in urban and rural habitat, and determined parentage by genotyping adults and nestlings at six microsatellite loci. Extra‐pair paternity is common in mountain chickadees, with extra‐pair offspring (EPO) in 43.2% of nests and accounting for 17.9% of offspring. We found tenuous support for the good genes hypothesis with females tending to engage in EPCs with older males. However, we did not find an influence of male or female condition on the proportion of EPO in a nest. In addition, we did not find a significant effect of habitat on EPP rates, suggesting the impacts of urbanization on mountain chickadee reproduction may not extend to altering extra‐pair behaviour.

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“…Mountain chickadees (P. gambeli) sing whistled multi-note songs which vary considerably among populations (Grava, Otter, et al, 2013a;LaZerte, Otter, et al, 2017a), although in most populations consist of one or more high notes followed by several notes at a lower pitch. The song, particularly the lower-pitched elements, can be severely masked by urban noise (LaZerte, Otter, & Slabbekoorn, 2015).…”

Section: Ríosmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The song, particularly the lower-pitched elements, can be severely masked by urban noise (LaZerte, Otter, & Slabbekoorn, 2015). In noisy environments (typically urban landscapes), the lowest pitched notes are often higher in frequency than those in quiet areas (LaZerte, Otter, et al, 2017a). However, it is unknown whether these adjustments improve audibility of these signals to receivers in noisy conditions, without compromising indicators of male condition.…”

Section: Ríosmentioning

confidence: 99%

A field test of the audibility of urban versus rural songs in mountain chickadees

2019

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Anthropogenic noise can mask avian vocalizations, and several urban‐dwelling species adjust frequency or amplitude of vocalizations in ways that appear to compensate for increased noise levels. Playback studies have investigated whether receivers differentiate between signals produced by rural and urban males, but it is difficult to determine whether differential response to stimulus reflects differences in audibility versus perceived differences in male signals/condition that result from urban settlement. Here, we performed paired‐playback trials to determine whether mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) differentiate urban versus rural songs when both stimuli were broadcast within noise. For each playback, stimuli were played in short bouts starting at a low signal‐to‐noise ratio and increasing in relative amplitude with each successive bout. If the primary function of adjusted urban songs is propagation in noise, we hypothesized that focal males would respond sooner to urban versus rural playbacks (detect at lower signal‐to‐noise ratios). If urban songs solely encode information about the male's condition (such as increased aggression), then we predicted only a differential aggressive response to playbacks once detected. If urban songs both increase propagation and embed information on male condition, we predicted a combination of both response types. We found no difference in latency to first response in urban versus rural songs, but some evidence for differential aggression to playback dependent on both stimulus type (urban vs. rural) and local ambient noise levels; focal males in noisy (urban) sites responded aggressively to both stimulus types, whereas focal males in quiet (rural) sites responded more aggressively to urban than to rural stimuli. This context‐dependent discrimination may be the result of increased aggression in urban habitats, improved communication in noisy habitats by urban signallers and receivers, or some combination of the two.

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Mountain chickadees adjust songs, calls and chorus composition with increasing ambient and experimental anthropogenic noise

Cited by 35 publications

References 53 publications

Learning to cope: vocal adjustment to urban noise is correlated with prior experience in black-capped chickadees

Learning to cope: vocal adjustment to urban noise is correlated with prior experience in black-capped chickadees

Patterns of extra‐pair paternity in mountain chickadees

A field test of the audibility of urban versus rural songs in mountain chickadees

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