Soft songs in male ortolan buntings are used in an aggressive context but are not an aggressive signal

Jakubowska, Aleksandra; Osiejuk, Tomasz S.

doi:10.1111/eth.12758

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Like Budka et al (2019), we had the subjective impression that males sometimes changed the amplitude of their rain calls, although we did not measure vocal amplitudes. Low-amplitude songs and calls are often used by songbirds in an aggressive context during territorial interactions (e.g., Hof and Hazlett 2010;Searcy et al 2014;Akçay et al 2015;Jakubowska and Osiejuk 2018). If rain calls are a substitute for song and are also used to maintain territory occupancy, their low-amplitude versions may be used in a similar way as soft songs, in order to confirm if the intruder is still present.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Various aspects of birdsong have been found to be associated with different outcomes in territorial conflicts (Vehrencamp 2000; Communicated by H. Brumm Beecher 2009). In addition to repertoire size (Balsby et al 2017;Byers 2017), song performance parameters such as frequency matching (Morton and Young 1986;Horn et al 1992), soft song (Hof and Hazlett 2010;Jakubowska and Osiejuk 2018), vocal performance (Moseley et al 2013;Phillips and Derryberry 2017), or song-type matching (Krebs et al 1981;King and McGregor 2016) can play a role during aggressive interactions by birds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Song-type switching rate in the chaffinch carries a message during simulated intrusion

Deoniziak

Osiejuk

2020

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Birds communicate their motivation and willingness to escalate a territorial conflict with a variety of agonistic signals. One of these, song-type switching, has been suggested to be a conventional signal in male-male interactions. However, this behavior does not show a consistent pattern across species. In this study, we asked whether variation in song-switching rate carries a message for song receivers among territorial chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs. Chaffinch song is well described, but only a few studies have focused on the communicative function of song-type switching or bout duration. Using data from playback experiments, we show here that variation in song-type switching rate affects the response of chaffinches. In response to the low switching rate treatment, territorial males began to sing later, produced fewer songs and more rain calls, decreased flight intensity, and spent more time close to the speaker than during playback of songs with a high switching rate. Our results provide strong evidence that the song-type switching rate is an agonistic signal in the chaffinch and that territorial males exhibit a stronger response toward rivals that sing with a lower song-type switching rate. A secondary purpose of our study was to determine the receivers' response with respect to their own song rate and song repertoire. We found that the reaction of tested males was correlated with their own spontaneous song rate. This implies that a male's response to stimuli may be predicted on the basis of his own song output. Significance statement Using playback experiments, we show that birds' responses to simulated territorial intrusion vary not only with the type of stimulus but also with the tested males' spontaneous song output. We found that, from the perspective of the song receiver, variation in switching rate carries a message for territorial chaffinches. Our findings add a new example of agonistic signaling in which territorial males exhibit a stronger response toward rivals singing with lower song-type switching rate, which up to now has only been demonstrated in a few species. Moreover, our results show that a male's response to playback could be predicted using his song output. This may be associated with motivation and willingness to escalate a conflict and could possibly also indicate a male's quality.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Song-type switching rate in the chaffinch carries a message during simulated intrusion

Deoniziak

Osiejuk

2020

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…However, twenty years of research on a continuous and abundant population from Western Poland has revealed no age‐related changes in repertoire size, contents or overall song diversity (e.g. Skierczyński & Osiejuk, ; Osiejuk, Bielecka & Skierczyński, ; Jakubowska & Osiejuk, ; own unpubl. data).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Songbird presumed to be age‐limited learner may change repertoire size and composition throughout their life

et al. 2019

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Songbirds learn to sing by imitating their conspecific songs through social learning. It is commonly thought that in species with small repertoires, so‐called crystallization of the song repertoire takes place before the first breeding attempt and afterwards their repertoires remain unchanged. However, the number of studies in which individual song repertoires have been tracked longitudinally under natural conditions is still small. The ortolan bunting (Emberiza hortulana) is a small Eurasian passerine species. Studies on this species have shown that males have small song repertoires (usually 2–3), share the same final phrase within a local dialect area, and their repertoires remain unchanged during their lifetimes. We studied the whole, isolated Norwegian population of this species with 100–150 individually marked males. We compared repertoire sizes and contents using cross‐sectional and longitudinal approaches. We focused on marked males aged 2–10 years and recorded in up to five breeding seasons between 2001 and 2006. There was no local dialect because songs with different final phrases occurred both within and between males. Repertoire size varied between 1 and 24 (4.7 ± 3.4) song types per male. Longitudinal analysis showed an increase in repertoire size in 29% and a decrease in 21% of males. Males whose repertoires remained the same in size between years often substantially changed in contents. New song types appeared in almost 70% of males, and over 30% of males started singing new syllable types after the second calendar year. In almost 50% of males, new song types appeared that were built as new combinations of syllables shown in previous years. In 30% of males, the song complexity increased with age. Simultaneously, over 60% of males selectively ceased singing some song types. We suggest that these repertoire alterations are linked to the isolation and fragmentation of this population, which may affect song learning patterns through increased breeding dispersal and a strongly male‐biased sex ratio. Similar studies from abundant and continuous populations of the species are needed to test this idea.

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“…1). In an earlier experimental study we tested whether the soft songs of the Ortolan Bunting are a signal of increased aggressiveness (Jakubowska and Osiejuk 2018). We found that soft song in this species does not meet the context, prediction and response criteria of aggressive signal specified by Searcy and Beecher (2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…Males respond stronger to loud songs than to soft ones and did not treat soft song as a predictor of signal escalation. However, depending on the type of experiment, soft songs appeared in 40-60% of simulated intrusions, but the occurrence of such songs was usually low in comparison to broadcast songs (Jakubowska and Osiejuk 2018;own unpublished material). The research mentioned above may suggest that soft song can be a tool to decrease the active range of signal, but the reason for this change was not tested explicitly.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

The use of soft songs during territorial intrusion in alarm context in the Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana

Jakubowska

Osiejuk

2018

J Ornithol

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Animals from many taxa produce low amplitude acoustic signals. In some birds such soft signals were found to be uttered in aggressive context and were the best predictor of subsequent physical attack. This phenomenon is poorly understood and several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the function(s) of the lowered amplitude of such signals. The eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis suggests that the use of low amplitude signals limits the possibility of signal detection by third-party receivers such as predators or conspecific rivals. Herein, we aim to investigate if soft songs in the Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana are used in order to avoid being predated or eavesdropped by potentially threatening conspecifics. We simulated alarm situation by playback of conspecific alarm calls. We measured the overall strength of males' response to territorial intrusion and number of soft songs in response to a risky situation compared to a control condition. Males showed a weaker approaching response to territorial intrusion and produced more soft songs if previously exposed to conspecific alarm calls and this behaviour is consistent with the eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis. However, we did not observe a complete switch to singing softly in alarm context, and both during the treatment and control males uttered loud calls in response. We suggest that soft songs in the Ortolan Bunting facilitate mediation of the territorial conflict by signalizing change in current motivation. Alternatively, soft songs might be related to readiness to fight or enable addressing signal to a specific receiver within a close range. Keywords Soft song • Eavesdropping avoidance hypothesis • Aggressive signals • Territorial defence • Ortolan Bunting Zusammenfassung Die Rolle leisen Gesangs beim Ortolan Emberiza hortulana während einer Revierverletzung in einer Alarmsituation. Tiere vieler Taxa geben akustische Signale niedriger Amplitude von sich. Bei manchen Vogelarten wurde die Äußerung solcher leisen Signale in einem aggressiven Kontext beobachtet, und diese waren das sicherste Anzeichen für einen anschließenden physischen Angriff. Dieses Phänomen ist weitgehend unerforscht und es gibt verschiedene Hypothesen, welche die Funktion(en) der geringeren Amplitude solcher Signale erklären sollen. Die Abhörvermeidungs-Hypothese besagt, dass die Nutzung von Signalen geringer Amplitude die Gefahr der Signalwahrnehmung durch Dritte, beispielsweise Prädatoren oder arteigene Rivalen, einschränken soll. Unser Ziel war es hier zu untersuchen, ob leiser Gesang beim Ortolan der Vermeidung von Prädation dient oder ob er verhindern soll, von potenziell bedrohlichen Artgenossen bemerkt zu werden. Wir simulierten eine Alarmsituation durch das Vorspielen arteigener Warnrufe. Wir erfassten die Gesamtstärke der Reaktion der Männchen auf die Revierstörung sowie die Anzahl leiser Gesänge als Antwort auf eine Gefahrsituation im Vergleich zur Kontrollsituation. Die Männchen zeigten ein schwächeres Annäherungsverhalten in Reaktion auf eine Revierstörung und äußerten...

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Soft songs in male ortolan buntings are used in an aggressive context but are not an aggressive signal

Cited by 10 publications

References 34 publications

Song-type switching rate in the chaffinch carries a message during simulated intrusion

Song-type switching rate in the chaffinch carries a message during simulated intrusion

Songbird presumed to be age‐limited learner may change repertoire size and composition throughout their life

The use of soft songs during territorial intrusion in alarm context in the Ortolan Bunting Emberiza hortulana

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