The role of learning, acoustic similarity and phylogenetic relatedness in the recognition of distress calls in birds

2021 ◽  
Vol 175 ◽  
pp. 111-121
Author(s):  
Yingtong Wu ◽  
Anna L. Petrosky ◽  
Nicolas A. Hazzi ◽  
Rebecca Lynn Woodward ◽  
Luis Sandoval
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Phylogenetic Relatedness ◽  
Distress Calls

scholarly journals Co-occurrences of tropical trees in eastern South America: disentangling abiotic and biotic forces

Plant Ecology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma-Liina Marjakangas ◽  
Otso Ovaskainen ◽  
Nerea Abrego ◽  
Vidar Grøtan ◽  
Alexandre A. de Oliveira ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
South America ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Environmental Filtering ◽  
Limiting Similarity ◽  
Phylogenetic Relatedness ◽  
Biogeographical Regions ◽  
Dependent Processes ◽  
Occurrence Of Species

AbstractSpecies co-occurrences in local communities can arise independent or dependent on species’ niches. However, the role of niche-dependent processes has not been thoroughly deciphered when generalized to biogeographical scales, probably due to combined shortcomings of data and methodology. Here, we explored the influence of environmental filtering and limiting similarity, as well as biogeographical processes that relate to the assembly of species’ communities and co-occurrences. We modelled jointly the occurrences and co-occurrences of 1016 tropical tree species with abundance data from inventories of 574 localities in eastern South America. We estimated species co-occurrences as raw and residual associations with models that excluded and included the environmental effects on the species’ co-occurrences, respectively. Raw associations indicate co-occurrence of species, whereas residual associations indicate co-occurrence of species after accounting for shared responses to environment. Generally, the influence of environmental filtering exceeded that of limiting similarity in shaping species’ co-occurrences. The number of raw associations was generally higher than that of the residual associations due to the shared responses of tree species to the environmental covariates. Contrary to what was expected from assuming limiting similarity, phylogenetic relatedness or functional similarity did not limit tree co-occurrences. The proportions of positive and negative residual associations varied greatly across the study area, and we found a significant tendency of some biogeographical regions having higher proportions of negative associations between them, suggesting that large-scale biogeographical processes limit the establishment of trees and consequently their co-occurrences.

Acoustic similarity elicits responses to heterospecific distress calls in bats (Mammalia: Chiroptera)

2018 ◽  
Vol 146 ◽  
pp. 143-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaobin Huang ◽  
Walter Metzner ◽  
Kangkang Zhang ◽  
Yujuan Wang ◽  
Bo Luo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Distress Calls

scholarly journals Recognition of other species' aerial alarm calls: speaking the same language or learning another?

2008 ◽  
Vol 276 (1657) ◽  
pp. 769-774 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D Magrath ◽  
Benjamin J Pitcher ◽  
Janet L Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Specific Structure ◽  
Geographical Range ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Complex Task ◽  
Signal Design ◽  
Interspecific Recognition ◽  
Malurus Cyaneus

Alarm calls given by other species potentially provide a network of information about danger, but little is known about the role of acoustic similarity compared with learning in recognition of heterospecific calls. In particular, the aerial ‘hawk’ alarm calls of passerines provide a textbook example of signal design because many species have converged on a design that thwarts eavesdropping by hawks, and call similarity might therefore allow recognition. We measured the response of fairy-wrens ( Malurus cyaneus ) to playback of acoustically similar scrubwren ( Sericornis frontalis ) aerial alarm calls. First, if call similarity prompts escape independent of learning, then fairy-wrens should flee to playback of scrubwren calls outside their geographical range. However, fairy-wrens fled only in sympatry. Second, if call similarity is necessary for learning heterospecific calls, then fairy-wrens should not respond to sympatric species with different calls. We found, on the contrary, that fairy-wrens fled to the very different aerial alarm calls of a honeyeater ( Phylidonyris novaehollandiae ). Furthermore, response to the honeyeater depended on the specific structure of the call, not acoustic similarity. Overall, call similarity was neither sufficient nor necessary for interspecific recognition, implying learning is essential in the complex task of sifting the acoustic world for cues about danger.

scholarly journals Darwin’s naturalization conundrum disentangled: the role of phylogenetic relatedness depends on the invasion stages

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ali Omer ◽  
Trevor Fristoe ◽  
Qiang Yang ◽  
Mialy Razanajatovo ◽  
Patrick Weigelt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alien Species ◽  
Southern Africa ◽  
Native Species ◽  
Phylogenetic Distance ◽  
Phylogenetic Relatedness ◽  
Native Flora ◽  
Invasion Stage ◽  
Adaptation Hypothesis ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract Darwin’s naturalization hypothesis predicts successful invaders to be distantly related to native species, whereas his pre-adaptation hypothesis predicts the opposite. It has been suggested that depending on the invasion stage (i.e. introduction, naturalization, and invasiveness), both hypotheses, now known as Darwin’s naturalization conundrum, could hold true. We tested this by analysing whether the likelihood of introduction for cultivation as well as subsequent stages of naturalization and invasion of species alien to Southern Africa are correlated with their phylogenetic distance to the native flora of this region. While species were more likely to be introduced for cultivation if they are distantly related to the native flora, the probability of subsequent naturalization was higher for species closely related to the native flora. Furthermore, the probability of becoming invasive was higher for naturalized species distantly related to the native flora. These results were consistent across three different metrics of phylogenetic distance. Our study reveals that the relationship between phylogenetic distance to the native flora and success of an alien species depends on the invasion stage.

scholarly journals Alarming features: birds use specific acoustic properties to identify heterospecific alarm calls

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1754) ◽  
pp. 20122539 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pamela M. Fallow ◽  
Benjamin J. Pitcher ◽  
Robert D. Magrath
Keyword(s):  
Frequency Modulation ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Alarm Signal ◽  
Antipredator Response ◽  
Malurus Cyaneus

Vertebrates that eavesdrop on heterospecific alarm calls must distinguish alarms from sounds that can safely be ignored, but the mechanisms for identifying heterospecific alarm calls are poorly understood. While vertebrates learn to identify heterospecific alarms through experience, some can also respond to unfamiliar alarm calls that are acoustically similar to conspecific alarm calls. We used synthetic calls to test the role of specific acoustic properties in alarm call identification by superb fairy-wrens, Malurus cyaneus . Individuals fled more often in response to synthetic calls with peak frequencies closer to those of conspecific calls, even if other acoustic features were dissimilar to that of fairy-wren calls. Further, they then spent more time in cover following calls that had both peak frequencies and frequency modulation rates closer to natural fairy-wren means. Thus, fairy-wrens use similarity in specific acoustic properties to identify alarms and adjust a two-stage antipredator response. Our study reveals how birds respond to heterospecific alarm calls without experience, and, together with previous work using playback of natural calls, shows that both acoustic similarity and learning are important for interspecific eavesdropping. More generally, this study reconciles contrasting views on the importance of alarm signal structure and learning in recognition of heterospecific alarms.

scholarly journals The Role of Acoustic Similarity and Non-Native Categorisation in Predicting Non-Native Discrimination: Brazilian Portuguese Vowels by English vs. Spanish Listeners

Languages ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Jaydene Elvin ◽  
Daniel Williams ◽  
Jason A. Shaw ◽  
Catherine T. Best ◽  
Paola Escudero
Keyword(s):  
Discrimination Performance ◽  
Brazilian Portuguese ◽  
Acoustic Similarity ◽  
Vowel Perception ◽  
Comparable Performance ◽  
Learning Scenarios ◽  
Australian English ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Better Than

This study tests whether Australian English (AusE) and European Spanish (ES) listeners differ in their categorisation and discrimination of Brazilian Portuguese (BP) vowels. In particular, we investigate two theoretically relevant measures of vowel category overlap (acoustic vs. perceptual categorisation) as predictors of non-native discrimination difficulty. We also investigate whether the individual listener’s own native vowel productions predict non-native vowel perception better than group averages. The results showed comparable performance for AusE and ES participants in their perception of the BP vowels. In particular, discrimination patterns were largely dependent on contrast-specific learning scenarios, which were similar across AusE and ES. We also found that acoustic similarity between individuals’ own native productions and the BP stimuli were largely consistent with the participants’ patterns of non-native categorisation. Furthermore, the results indicated that both acoustic and perceptual overlap successfully predict discrimination performance. However, accuracy in discrimination was better explained by perceptual similarity for ES listeners and by acoustic similarity for AusE listeners. Interestingly, we also found that for ES listeners, the group averages explained discrimination accuracy better than predictions based on individual production data, but that the AusE group showed no difference.

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