Singing in the face of death: male banded wrens <i>Thryophilus pleurostictus</i> sing more to playback in their last breeding season

Hall, Michelle L.; Molles, Laura E.; Illes, Anya E; Vehrencamp, Sandra L.

doi:10.1111/j.1600-048x.2009.04540.x

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 41 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…If anything, males in poor condition tended to show increases in several of the performance measures (see Table 2). These trends are consistent with earlier findings of a terminal investment effect on song rates during playback, in which males that subsequently died sang songs at higher rates than males that survived (Hall et al 2009). Our condition index does not seem to reflect the probability of mortality in this long-lived tropical bird (75% annual survival rate).…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Trill performance components vary with age, season, and motivation in the banded wren

Vehrencamp

Yantachka

Hall

et al. 2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Acoustic displays with difficult-to-execute sounds are often subject to strong sexual selection, because performance levels are related to the sender’s condition or genetic quality. Performance may also vary with age, breeding stage, and motivation related to social context. We focused on within-male variation in four components of trill performance in banded wren (Thryophilus pleurostictus) songs: note consistency, frequency bandwidth, note rate and vocal deviation. The latter is a composite measure reflecting deviation from the performance limit on simultaneously maximizing both frequency bandwidth and note rate. We compared the changes in these song parameters at three time scales: over the course of years, across the breeding season, and at different times of the day with contrasting agonistic contexts. Vocal deviation decreased and note consistency increased over years, suggesting that experience may improve individual proficiency at singing trills. Consistency also increased across the season, confirming that practice is important for this parameter. Although there was no significant seasonal change in vocal deviation, one of its components, note rate, increased during the season. Neither vocal deviation nor consistency varied with agonistic context. However, note rate increased during playback experiments simulating territorial intrusions compared to dawn chorus singing. The magnitude of a male’s increase in note rate was positively correlated with his aggressive behavior during the playback experiment. Thus consistency, bandwidth, and vocal deviation indicate age, whereas trill rate flexibly indicates the singer’s aggressive motivation. We also found evidence of a within-male trade-off between vocal deviation and consistency.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Trill performance components vary with age, season, and motivation in the banded wren

Vehrencamp

Yantachka

Hall

et al. 2012

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This pattern is consistent with previous work investigating the influence of male age on reproductive effort. For instance, male wrens tend to call more during their last year of life, suggesting that males invest more in their sexual signal when the probability of surviving to another breeding season is small [25]. However, this is not a dishonest signal, as these males were not known to suffer from an infection or known to reduce their mate's potential fitness.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The influence of male age and simulated pathogenic infection on producing a dishonest sexual signal

Copeland

Fedorka

2012

Proc. R. Soc. B.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In recent years, studies have shown that reproductive effort decelerates in response to pathogenic infection. If infection substantially reduces a host's residual reproductive value (RRV), however, then an acceleration of effort may instead occur (e.g. terminal investment). Reproductive acceleration would theoretically allow hosts to maintain or exaggerate their sexual signal upon infection. This would create a deceptive message from the perspective of the chooser, who may unwittingly copulate with an infected mate to their detriment. Using the cricket Allonemobius socius , we assessed the potential for reduced RRV to accelerate male reproductive effort and create a dishonest signal. RRV was manipulated through male age and simulated pathogenic insult. Reproductive effort was measured as calling song energetics, mating success, latency to mate and nuptial gift size. We show that males adopted either an accelerated or decelerated reproductive strategy upon infection, and that this decision was probably mediated by RRV. Moreover, males who accelerated their effort produced a dishonest signal by increasing their song energetics while providing fewer paternal resources (i.e. smaller gifts). Our study is one of the few to document the existence of dishonest signals and relate dishonesty to a potential reduction in female fitness, underscoring the conflict inherent in sexual reproduction.

show abstract

“…Likewise, males typically signal more in the presence of females (Akre & Ryan 2011), and particularly in the presence of good quality females (Wong & Svensson 2009). Males also tend to signal more intensively when they are close to their last reproductive opportunity (Candolin 2000a; Hall et al 2009; Proulx et al 2002). Older males may benefit by reallocating energy from self-maintenance and survival to signalling if their survival probability has been reduced by age or time of season (Kokko 1997; Lindstrom et al 2009; Proulx et al 2002).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Signal modulation as a mechanism for handicap disposal

et al. 2012

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Signal honesty may be compromised when heightened competition provides incentive for signal exaggeration. Some degree of honesty might be maintained by intrinsic handicap costs on signalling or through imposition of extrinsic costs, such as social punishment of low quality cheaters. Thus, theory predicts a delicate balance between signal enhancement and signal reliability that varies with degree of social competition, handicap cost, and social cost. We investigated whether male sexual signals of the electric fish Brachyhypopomus gauderio would become less reliable predictors of body length when competition provides incentives for males to boost electric signal amplitude. As expected, social competition under natural field conditions and in controlled lab experiments drove males to enhance their signals. However, signal enhancement improved the reliability of the information conveyed by the signal, as revealed in the tightening of the relationship between signal amplitude and body length. Signal augmentation in male B. gauderio was independent of body length, and thus appeared not to be curtailed through punishment of low quality (small) individuals. Rather, all individuals boosted their signals under high competition, but those whose signals were farthest from the predicted value under low competition boosted signal amplitude the most. By elimination, intrinsic handicap cost of signal production, rather than extrinsic social cost, appears to be the basis for the unexpected reinforcement of electric signal honesty under social competition. Signal modulation may provide its greatest advantage to the signaller as a mechanism for handicap disposal under low competition rather than as a mechanism for exaggeration of quality under high competition.

show abstract

Singing in the face of death: male banded wrens Thryophilus pleurostictus sing more to playback in their last breeding season

Cited by 19 publications

References 41 publications

Trill performance components vary with age, season, and motivation in the banded wren

Trill performance components vary with age, season, and motivation in the banded wren

The influence of male age and simulated pathogenic infection on producing a dishonest sexual signal

Signal modulation as a mechanism for handicap disposal

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About