Perception of terrestrial and aerial alarm calls by honeyeaters and falcons

2000 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon R. Wood ◽  
Ken J. Sanderson ◽  
Christopher S. Evans
Keyword(s):  
Computer System ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Avian Predators ◽  
Noisy Miner ◽  
Distress Calls ◽  
Manorina Melanocephala ◽  
Reduce Risk

This study tested the responses to aerial and terrestrial alarm and distress calls in an avian predator, the brown falcon, Falco berigora, and two potential avian prey species, the New Holland honeyeater, Philidonyris novaehollandiae, and noisy miner, Manorina melanocephala. Calls were delivered from a computer system at intensities 5–20 dB above background, to birds held in large cages. All birds located the broad-band alarm and distress calls easily, but they had difficulty locating the narrow-band aerial alarm calls, although they were able to detect most of these. Aerial alarm calls thus reduce risk to the caller. The performance of raptors and songbirds was similar. This result suggests that there are no reliable differences in the auditory characteristics of avian predators and prey, as have been described in species from the Northern Hemisphere.

Dynamic changes in alarm call structure: a strategy for reducing conspicuousness to avian predators?

Behaviour ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 140 (3) ◽  
pp. 353-369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher Evans ◽  
Karen Bayly
Keyword(s):  
Broad Band ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
High Amplitude ◽  
Dominant Frequency ◽  
Adaptive Plasticity ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Potential Predator ◽  
Call Structure ◽  
Avian Predators ◽  
Signal Efficacy

AbstractThe design of many animal signals reflects the need to maximize signal efficacy while minimizing conspicuousness to eavesdroppers. The aerial alarm calls of birds have been a useful model system for exploring such evolutionary tradeoffs at the level of general call structure, but much less is known about changes in fine-scale signal characteristics over the course of an encounter with a potential predator. We analyzed variation in the alarm calls that male fowl, Gallus gallus, produced in response to raptor silhouettes moving overhead. Spectrogram cross-correlation was used to test for changes in structure over the course of a call bout. This analysis revealed that aerial alarm calls are individually distinctive and that they vary significantly from the first call to the second. We then measured single acoustic parameters, including the duration, dominant frequency and frequency bandwidth of each component in successive calls. Males almost invariably began the first call in a bout with a high amplitude broad-band pulse, which was followed by a much longer and highly variable sustained element. They then selectively reduced or eliminated the introductory pulse, while leaving other aspects of alarm structure unchanged. Recent work has shown that the introductory pulse is potentially costly because it has attributes that are readily localized by raptors. We suggest that male fowl have adaptive plasticity in alarm call structure, allowing them to manage short-term predation risk while continuing to signal to companions.

Acoustic discrimination of passerine anti-predator signals by Australian raptors

1998 ◽  
Vol 46 (4) ◽  
pp. 369 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark A. Jurisevic ◽  
Ken J. Sanderson
Keyword(s):  
Sound Source ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Acoustic Properties ◽  
Lower Percentage ◽  
Head Orientation ◽  
Acoustic Discrimination ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Distress Calls

Acoustic discrimination of anti-predator calls was examined in 11 species of Australian raptors, including 5 Falco species and 2 species of Elanus kites, by their responses to the playback of alarm and distress calls of Australian passerines. The present study investigated the ability of raptors to discriminate between alarm and distress calls that have different acoustic properties and are emitted in different behavioural contexts. The raptors were tested with broad-band calls (containing a wide range of frequencies) given as distress calls, mobbing calls and alarm calls to terrestrial predators, and with narrow-band calls (comprising a narrow range of frequencies) typically given as a response to flying predators. Raptor responses were categorised into three classes based on head orientation (or lack thereof) towards the sound source (i.e. one of 2 or 4 speakers positioned in the cage set-up); (1) ‘correct response’ – the raptor looked directly at the speaker; (2) ‘incorrect response’ – the raptor detected the sound, but oriented the head in a direction other than towards the sound source; (3) ‘no response’. All raptor species showed a higher percentage of correct responses (60–100%) for broad-frequency vocalisations and a lower percentage of correct responses (usually 0–40%) and more incorrect responses for narrow-band vocalisations. Further, all raptors showed a greater rate of overall responsiveness to broad-band alarm and distress calls than narrow-band calls, indicating a higher interest level in the former. The behavioural implications of acoustic discrimination by Australian raptors to different types of alarm call are discussed.

scholarly journals Cooperative bird discriminates between individuals based purely on their aerial alarm calls

2019 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 440-447
Author(s):  
Lucy F Farrow ◽  
Ahmad Barati ◽  
Paul G McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Social Contexts ◽  
Conclusive Evidence ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Alarm Signals ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Noisy Miner ◽  
Individual Discrimination ◽  
Social Calls ◽  
Manorina Melanocephala

Abstract From an evolutionary perspective, the ability to recognize individuals provides great selective advantages, such as avoiding inbreeding depression during breeding. Whilst the capacity to recognize individuals for these types of benefits is well established in social contexts, why this recognition might arise in a potentially deadly alarm-calling context following predator encounters is less obvious. For example, in most avian systems, alarm signals directed toward aerial predators represent higher predation risk and vulnerability than when individuals vocalize toward a terrestrial-based predator. Although selection should favor simple, more effective alarm calls to these dangerous aerial predators, the potential of these signals to nonetheless encode additional information such as caller identity has not received a great deal of attention. We tested for individual discrimination capacity in the aerial alarm vocalizations of the noisy miner (Manorina melanocephala), a highly social honeyeater that has been previously shown to be able to discriminate between the terrestrial alarm signals of individuals. Utilizing habituation–discrimination paradigm testing, we found conclusive evidence of individual discrimination in the aerial alarm calls of noisy miners, which was surprisingly of similar efficiency to their ability to discriminate between less urgent terrestrial alarm signals. Although the mechanism(s) driving this behavior is currently unclear, it most likely occurs as a result of selection favoring individualism among other social calls in the repertoire of this cooperative species. This raises the intriguing possibility that individualistic signatures in vocalizations of social animals might be more widespread than currently appreciated, opening new areas of bioacoustics research.

scholarly journals A micro-geography of fear: learning to eavesdrop on alarm calls of neighbouring heterospecifics

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1730) ◽  
pp. 902-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert D. Magrath ◽  
Thomas H. Bennett
Keyword(s):  
Community Composition ◽  
Geographical Variation ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
Dispersal Distance ◽  
Fear Learning ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Acoustic Features ◽  
Noisy Miner ◽  
Manorina Melanocephala ◽  
Malurus Cyaneus

Many vertebrates eavesdrop on alarm calls of other species, which is a remarkable ability, given geographical variation in community composition and call diversity within and among species. We used micro-geographical variation in community composition to test whether individuals recognize heterospecific alarm calls by: (i) responding to acoustic features shared among alarm calls; (ii) having innate responses to particular heterospecific calls; or (iii) learning specific alarm calls. We found that superb fairy-wrens ( Malurus cyaneus ) fled to cover to playback of noisy miner ( Manorina melanocephala ) aerial predator alarm calls only in locations where miners were present, suggesting that learning rather than acoustic structure determines response. Sites with and without miners were well within the dispersal distance of fairy-wrens, and philopatric males and dispersing females showed the same pattern, so that local genetic adaptation is extremely unlikely. Furthermore, where miners were present, fairy-wrens responded appropriately to different miner calls, implying eavesdropping on their signalling system rather than fleeing from miners themselves. Learned eavesdropping on alarm calls enables individuals to harvest ecologically relevant information from heterospecifics on an astonishingly fine spatial scale. Such phenotypic plasticity is valuable in a changing world, where individuals can be exposed to new species.

scholarly journals Automated detection and association of surface waves

1994 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
R. G. North ◽  
C. R. D. Woodgold
Keyword(s):  
Surface Waves ◽  
Group Velocity ◽  
Rayleigh Waves ◽  
Arrival Time ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Detection Algorithm ◽  
Automated Detection ◽  
Short Period ◽  
Group Velocities

An algorithm for the automatic detection and association of surface waves has been developed and tested over an 18 month interval on broad band data from the Yellowknife array (YKA). The detection algorithm uses a conventional STA/LTA scheme on data that have been narrow band filtered at 20 s periods and a test is then applied to identify dispersion. An average of 9 surface waves are detected daily using this technique. Beamforming is applied to determine the arrival azimuth; at a nonarray station this could be provided by poIarization analysis. The detected surface waves are associated daily with the events located by the short period array at Yellowknife, and later with the events listed in the USGS NEIC Monthly Summaries. Association requires matching both arrival time and azimuth of the Rayleigh waves. Regional calibration of group velocity and azimuth is required. . Large variations in both group velocity and azimuth corrections were found, as an example, signals from events in Fiji Tonga arrive with apparent group velocities of 2.9 3.5 krn/s and azimuths from 5 to + 40 degrees clockwise from true (great circle) azimuth, whereas signals from Kuriles Kamchatka have velocities of 2.4 2.9 km/s and azimuths off by 35 to 0 degrees. After applying the regional corrections, surface waves are considered associated if the arrival time matches to within 0.25 km/s in apparent group velocity and the azimuth is within 30 degrees of the median expected. Over the 18 month period studied, 32% of the automatically detected surface waves were associated with events located by the Yellowknife short period array, and 34% (1591) with NEIC events; there is about 70% overlap between the two sets of events. Had the automatic detections been reported to the USGS, YKA would have ranked second (after LZH) in terms of numbers of associated surface waves for the study period of April 1991 to September 1992.

scholarly journals Thalamic inputs determine functionally distinct gamma bands in mouse primary visual cortex

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolò Meneghetti ◽  
Chiara Cerri ◽  
Elena Tantillo ◽  
Eleonora Vannini ◽  
Matteo Caleo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Visual Cortex ◽  
Primary Visual Cortex ◽  
Visual Information ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Gamma Band ◽  
Neuron Network ◽  
Sensory Stimuli ◽  
Thalamic Input ◽  
Visual Contrast

AbstractGamma band is known to be involved in the encoding of visual features in the primary visual cortex (V1). Recent results in rodents V1 highlighted the presence, within a broad gamma band (BB) increasing with contrast, of a narrow gamma band (NB) peaking at ∼60 Hz suppressed by contrast and enhanced by luminance. However, the processing of visual information by the two channels still lacks a proper characterization. Here, by combining experimental analysis and modeling, we prove that the two bands are sensitive to specific thalamic inputs associated with complementary contrast ranges. We recorded local field potentials from V1 of awake mice during the presentation of gratings and observed that NB power progressively decreased from low to intermediate levels of contrast. Conversely, BB power was insensitive to low levels of contrast but it progressively increased going from intermediate to high levels of contrast. Moreover, BB response was stronger immediately after contrast reversal, while the opposite held for NB. All the aforementioned dynamics were accurately reproduced by a recurrent excitatory-inhibitory leaky integrate-and-fire network, mimicking layer IV of mouse V1, provided that the sustained and periodic component of the thalamic input were modulated over complementary contrast ranges. These results shed new light on the origin and function of the two V1 gamma bands. In addition, here we propose a simple and effective model of response to visual contrast that might help in reconstructing network dysfunction underlying pathological alterations of visual information processing.Significance StatementGamma band is a ubiquitous hallmark of cortical processing of sensory stimuli. Experimental evidence shows that in the mouse visual cortex two types of gamma activity are differentially modulated by contrast: a narrow band (NB), that seems to be rodent specific, and a standard broad band (BB), observed also in other animal models.We found that narrow band correlates and broad band anticorrelates with visual contrast in two complementary contrast ranges (low and high respectively). Moreover, BB displayed an earlier response than NB. A thalamocortical spiking neuron network model reproduced the aforementioned results, suggesting they might be due to the presence of two complementary but distinct components of the thalamic input into visual cortical circuitry.

Argon Matrix Infrared Spectroscopic Evidence for the Generation of Pentatetraenone by Flash Pyrolysis of Suitable Precursors

1988 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 225 ◽  
Author(s):  
RFC Brown ◽  
KJ Coulston ◽  
FW Eastwood ◽  
MJ Irvine ◽  
ADE Pullin
Keyword(s):  
Carbon Atom ◽  
Infrared Spectra ◽  
Spectral Region ◽  
Narrow Band ◽  
Broad Band ◽  
Carbonyl Carbon Atom ◽  
Carbonyl Carbon ◽  
Argon Matrix ◽  
Spectroscopic Evidence ◽  
Argon Mixture

Five compounds were investigated as precursors for the pyrolytic generation of pentatetraenone, H2C=C=C=C=C=O. These were (1)-(4): 3- ethenylidenebicyclo [2.2.1]hept-5-ene with the following 2,2 substituents : H, COOCOCF3 (1); H, 13COOCOCF3 (1′); (COOCOCF3)2 (2); (COO)2C(CH3)(OCH3) (3); (COO)2Si(CH3)2 (4) and 5-(3′- methylenebicyclo [2.2.1]hept-5′-en-2′-ylidene)-2,2-dimethyl-1,3-dioxan-4,6-dione (5). The five precursors were pyrolysed in a stream of argon at temperatures in the range 350-725°C and the pyrolysate -argon mixture condensed on a CsI plate at c. 10 K. Infrared spectra were obtained between 4000 and 250 cm-1. All five precursors gave two strong bands in the spectral region 2070-2250 cm-1, possibly attributable to pentatetraenone. At lower pyrolytic temperatures the more intense of the two bands was a broad band centred at c. 2128 cm-1 [precursors (1)- (4)] or at c. 2094 cm-1 [precursor (5)]. At higher pyrolytic temperatures these bands were diminished in intensity and replaced by a narrow band at 2207 cm-1 for all five precursors. Bands due to the expected other products for each pyrolysis reaction to form pentatetraenone were observed. H2C413CO ( pentatetraenone substituted by 13C at the carbonyl carbon atom) was prepared by pyrolysis of precursor (1′). We assign the broad bands at c. 2128 cm-1 [precursors (1)-(4)] and at c. 2094 [precursor (5)] to incompletely pyrolysed precursor in which cyclopentadiene has been retained but decomposition in the rest of the molecule has resulted in formation of a =C=C=O group. Bands at 2207, 2068 and 1726 cm-1 we assign to v2-v4 of pentatetraenone. Corresponding bands at 2168, 2056 and 1720 cm-1 are observed in the spectrum of H2C413CO.

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