Sophistication and simplicity: conventional communication in a rudimentary system

Ręk, Paweł; Osiejuk, Tomasz S.

doi:10.1093/beheco/arq143

Cited by 38 publications

(39 citation statements)

References 49 publications

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“…The average call duration and rate vary among individuals, but organization rules of vocal communication remain the same. The sensitivity of barn owl nestlings to the partner's change in duration and rate in the preceding vocal sequence is an additional element showing that animals perceive complex vocal patterns (Rek & Osiejuk, 2010). Some species organize their vocal units following syntactic rules (ten Cate & Okanoya, 2012;Ouattara, Lemasson, & Zuberbuhler, 2009); the organization found in barn owls can be seen as a precursor of syntactic rules without any differentiated vocal units (Rek & Osiejuk, 2010).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social rules govern vocal competition in the barn owl

et al. 2015

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To resolve the share of limited resources, animals often compete through exchange of signals about their relative motivation to compete. When two competitors are similarly motivated, the resolution of conflicts may be achieved in the course of an interactive process. In barn owls, Tyto alba, in which siblings vocally compete during the prolonged absence of parents over access to the next delivered food item, we investigated what governs the decision to leave or enter a contest, and at which level. Siblings alternated periods during which one of the two individuals vocalized more than the other. Individuals followed turn-taking rules to interrupt each other and momentarily dominate the vocal competition. These social rules were weakly sensitive to hunger level and age hierarchy. Hence, the investment in a conflict is determined not only by need and resource-holding potential, but also by social interactions. The use of turn-taking rules governing individual vocal investment has rarely been shown in a competitive context. We hypothesized that these rules would allow individuals to remain alert to one another's motivation while maintaining the cost of vocalizing at the lowest level.© 2015 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour. Published by Elsevier Ltd.Natural selection has favoured the evolution of behaviours and weapons to outcompete conspecifics, or of communication systems to resolve the share of resources (Maynard Smith, 1982;Parker, 1974). The term 'negotiation' is usually used for humans who bargain for resources and the process typically ends with a decision about which part of the resource each participant obtains (Nash, 1950). Evolutionary ecologists also use this concept to define situations in which animals communicate to reach an agreement about how a resource is shared or how to invest in a collaborative task (Johnstone & Hinde, 2006;Johnstone & Roulin, 2003;McNamara, Gasson, & Houston, 1999;Patricelli, Krakauer, & McElreath, 2011;Sirot, 2012). An individual that presents conspicuous ornaments or signals at higher levels than its opponents (e.g. produces louder begging calls in nestling birds) usually gains easier access to these limited resources (Godfray, 1991;Kilner, Noble, & Davies, 1999), but, for transient signals, this average signal level can vary over short periods of time, independently of variation in need or condition (Briffa, Elwood, & Dick, 1998;Greenfield, Tourtellot, & Snedden, 1997). The contest outcome is then the result of an interactive process settled during repeated interactions (Briffa et al., 1998;Enquist & Leimar, 1983;Enquist, Leimar, Ljungberg, Mallner, & Segerdahl, 1990;Payne & Pagel, 1996). These variations in signal level during competitive interactions raise the possibility that animals assess the temporal dynamics of signal production and not only the absolute signalling level of conspecifics to adjust their behaviour (Patricelli, Uy, Walsh, & Borgia, 2002). Game theory has dominated the way evolutionary biologists envisage social interactions (Dobler & Koll...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Social rules govern vocal competition in the barn owl

et al. 2015

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“…We found that Corncrake males increased the rhythm of calling and performed fewer syllables per 1 min during the playback experiment than before the playback. A change to a more intermittent level of rhythm signals a more aggressive motivation of the sender (Ręk and Osiejuk 2010). In contrast, a decrease in the number of calls during aggressive interactions can be explained in two different ways.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…SYL2) (where SYL1 is the duration of the first syllable, SYL2 the duration of the second syllable, INT1 the duration of the withincall interval, and INT2 the duration of the between-call interval) and reflects the monotonous (low value of RHYTHM) or intermittent (high value of RHYTHM) character of calling, which can be detected easily by the human ear. Moreover, males respond more aggressively to the playback of an intermittent rhythm than to that of a monotonous rhythm, and males with intermittent calls are more aggressive (Ręk and Osiejuk 2010). To overcome this problem, we controlled rhythm in our experiment.…”

Section: Preparation Of Call Stimuli and Experimental Protocolmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neighbour–stranger call discrimination in a nocturnal rail species, the Corncrake Crex crex

Budka

Osiejuk

2013

J Ornithol

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The acoustic signals of birds are commonly used for individual recognition. Calls or songs allow discrimination between parent and offspring, between mates and between territorial neighbours and strangers. In this study, we investigated vocal neighbour-stranger discrimination in a nocturnally calling rail species, the Corncrake, Crex crex. We conducted interactive playback experiments with 43 males. All males were tested twice on the same night, and their responses to the calls of a familiar neighbour and the calls of an unfamiliar stranger were measured. The Corncrake males responded more aggressively to the playback of a stranger's calls. They approached the speaker more rapidly, spent more time close to the speaker and physically attacked the speaker more frequently. We found no significant differences between the vocal responses to the playback of neighbours' and strangers' calls. Thus, although calling plays an important role in Corncrake territorial interactions, it is only a first line of defence in which males signal aggression towards intruders by calling, similar to singing in passerines. The lack of differences in vocal responses and the presence of clear differences in other behavioural responses demonstrate that the absence of a differential vocal response does not imply the absence of discrimination. Although the individual nature of the Corncrake call has been mentioned in a few previous studies, this study provides the first experimental evidence that Corncrake males indeed use calls for neighbour-stranger discrimination.Notably, because of the Corncrake's dense wet meadow habitat and its tendency to signal at night, it is probable that acoustic individual discrimination in the Corncrake is crucial for making correct decisions during aggressive encounters with rivals.

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“…Indeed, song rhythm and its changes may be an efficient way of conventional signalling in species with simple vocalizations (Ręk and Osiejuk, 2010). However, other possible factors limiting the syllable rate in chiffchaff, such as constraints imposed by syrinx and oropharyngeal …”

Section: Syllable Rate and Respiratory Demands In Chiffchaffsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A physical attack during territorial encounters is considered as the highest level of aggressive behaviour (e.g., Dunn et al, 2004;Petrusková et al, 2007;Searcy et al, 2006), and conventional signalling allows avoiding such risky behaviour (Hurd and Enquist, 1998;Ręk and Osiejuk, 2010). Recently, particular attention has been paid to soft vocalizations that predict attack in various species (Ballentine et al, 2008;Ręk and Osiejuk, 2011;Searcy et al, 2006).…”

Section: Syllable Rate As a Predictor Of Attackmentioning

confidence: 99%