Whip it good! Geographic consistency in male songs and variability in female songs of the duetting eastern whipbird Psophodes olivaceus

Mennill, Daniel J.; Rogers, Amy C.

doi:10.1111/j.2006.0908-8857.03548.x

Cited by 19 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…For example, California towhees use duets to defend resources, to maintain contact with mates and to signal commitment to a partnership (Benedict ). Rufous‐and‐white wrens use duets for all of the same functions as California Towhees, as well as for guarding mates (Mennill & Vehrencamp , ; Mennill & Rogers ; Osmun & Mennill ). When we eliminate species studied before 1983 (when conflict‐based duet functions were not tested) and conclusions that are not strongly supported by experimental results, we find that rigorous recent work has provided evidence for conflict‐based mate‐guarding duet functions and negates the idea that duets are purely cooperative.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Angry Birds Need Not Apply: A Perspective on the Flexible form and Multifunctionality of Avian Vocal Duets

2013

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Research into avian vocal duets has revealed much about the social interactions of mated pairs, including how communication signals mediate important components of fitness such as reproductive success and resource‐holding ability. Excellent reviews have been written on avian duets, but none have quantified the prevalence of different duet features and functions, or tested for potential links between structure and function. Here we have compiled a thorough list of studies at the species level and investigated whether there are trends in duet form, trends in duet function and matches between form and function. We have also provided recommendations for reporting of duet structure to help standardize future data collection and facilitate comparative analyses. We found that duet vocalizations are typically tightly coordinated (69% of 33 species), initiated by both partners (80% of 35 species), and have sex‐specific contributions (73% of 48 species). Duets vary substantially in structure both across and within species, and this flexibility in duet form may contribute to their use in multiple contexts. Among the well‐studied species (functions well supported by experimental evidence and studied post‐1983), duets are usually multifunctional, with functions including joint resource defence, signalling commitment, maintaining contact, ensuring reproductive synchrony and mate‐guarding. Levels of support for different hypotheses have changed over time as theory within the field developed, but overall, the best‐supported function of duets across avian species (81% of 26 species) has been joint resource defence. In all but one of these 26 species, duets are sometimes cooperative (meaning that duet participation benefits both duetting partners), and they often produce multiple benefits. We found associations between form and function, in that duets directed to non‐pair individuals have higher amplitude and are more likely to have sex‐specific notes than duets directed within the pair. We see the field moving away from labelling duets as representing ‘cooperation’ or ‘conflict’ and moving towards a general multifunctionality framework within which researchers test multiple hypotheses for duet function under the assumption that both duet form and function can vary moment to moment and that such flexibility can provide multiple benefits.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Nevertheless, almost all well‐studied avian species (96%) use duets in cooperative contexts. Fewer (44%) well‐studied species use duets to defend mates, and only one of these, the Eastern Whipbird, uses duets exclusively for mate‐guarding (Mennill & Rogers ; Rogers et al. , ; Osmun & Mennill ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Angry Birds Need Not Apply: A Perspective on the Flexible form and Multifunctionality of Avian Vocal Duets

2013

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“…Some song types are sex‐specific, whereas other songs types are shared between males and females (Mennill & Vehrencamp, ). Even though there is the potential for individuals to learn songs from the opposite sex (as observed in other species, Evans & Kleindorfer, ), measurements of song sharing and acoustic similarity suggest that males learn primarily from other males, and that females learn from other females, as suggested in other species (Mennill & Rogers, ). Juvenile Rufous‐and‐white Wrens appear to continue to learn songs following natal dispersal, further allowing us to study the role between dispersal and song variation (Graham, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 89%

Dispersal influences genetic and acoustic spatial structure for both males and females in a tropical songbird

Graham

Heath

Mennill

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Animals exhibit diverse dispersal strategies, including sex‐biased dispersal, a phenomenon common in vertebrates. Dispersal influences the genetic structure of populations as well as geographic variation in phenotypic traits. Patterns of spatial genetic structure and geographic variation may vary between the sexes whenever males and females exhibit different dispersal behaviors. Here, we examine dispersal, spatial genetic structure, and spatial acoustic structure in Rufous‐and‐white Wrens, a year‐round resident tropical bird. Both sexes sing in this species, allowing us to compare acoustic variation between males and females and examine the relationship between dispersal and song sharing for both sexes. Using a long‐term dataset collected over an 11‐year period, we used banding data and molecular genetic analyses to quantify natal and breeding dispersal distance in Rufous‐and‐white Wrens. We quantified song sharing and examined whether sharing varied with dispersal distance, for both males and females. Observational data and molecular genetic analyses indicate that dispersal is female‐biased. Females dispersed farther from natal territories than males, and more often between breeding territories than males. Furthermore, females showed no significant spatial genetic structure, consistent with expectations, whereas males showed significant spatial genetic structure. Overall, natal dispersal appears to have more influence than breeding dispersal on spatial genetic structure and spatial acoustic structure, given that the majority of breeding dispersal events resulted in individuals moving only short distances. Song sharing between pairs of same‐sex animals decreases with the distance between their territories for both males and females, although males exhibited significantly greater song sharing than females. Lastly, we measured the relationship between natal dispersal distance and song sharing. We found that sons shared fewer songs with their fathers the farther they dispersed from their natal territories, but that song sharing between daughters and mothers was not significantly correlated with natal dispersal distance. Our results reveal cultural differences between the sexes, suggesting a relationship between culture and sex‐biased dispersal.

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“…In our study, a greater proportion of female songs were correctly assigned to their original population than the proportion of male songs that were correctly assigned. Previous work on Eastern Whipbirds ( Psophodes olivaceus ) found that females exhibited greater geographic variation than males (Mennill & Rogers, ). Overall, males and females showed similar patterns, given that both background noise and geographic distance influenced acoustic variation for both sexes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parallel evolutionary forces influence the evolution of male and female songs in a tropical songbird

Graham

Heath

Walter

et al. 2018

J of Evolutionary Biology

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Given the important role that animal vocalizations play in mate attraction and resource defence, acoustic signals are expected to play a significant role in speciation. Most studies, however, have focused on the acoustic traits of male animals living in the temperate zone. In contrast to temperate environments, in the tropics, it is commonplace for both sexes to produce complex acoustic signals. Therefore, tropical birds offer the opportunity to compare the sexes and provide a more comprehensive understanding of the evolution of animal signals. In this study, we quantified patterns of acoustic variation in Rufous-and-white Wrens (Thryophilus rufalbus) from five populations in Central America. We quantified similarities and differences between male and female songs by comparing the role that acoustic adaptation, cultural isolation and neutral genetic divergence have played in shaping acoustic divergence. We found that males and females showed considerable acoustic variation across populations, although females exhibited greater population divergence than males. Redundancy analysis and partial-redundancy analysis revealed significant relationships between acoustic variation and ecological variables, genetic distance, and geographic distance. Both ambient background noise and geographic distance explained a high proportion of variance for both males and females, suggesting that both acoustic adaptation and cultural isolation influence song. Overall, our results indicate that parallel evolutionary forces act on male and female acoustic signals and highlight the important role that cultural drift and selection play in the evolution of both male and female songs.

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Whip it good! Geographic consistency in male songs and variability in female songs of the duetting eastern whipbird Psophodes olivaceus

Cited by 19 publications

References 21 publications

Angry Birds Need Not Apply: A Perspective on the Flexible form and Multifunctionality of Avian Vocal Duets

Angry Birds Need Not Apply: A Perspective on the Flexible form and Multifunctionality of Avian Vocal Duets

Dispersal influences genetic and acoustic spatial structure for both males and females in a tropical songbird

Parallel evolutionary forces influence the evolution of male and female songs in a tropical songbird

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