scholarly journals Faecal glucocorticoid metabolites and alarm calling in free-living yellow-bellied marmots

2005 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-32 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T Blumstein ◽  
Marilyn L Patton ◽  
Wendy Saltzman
Keyword(s):  
Present Finding ◽  
Physiological Arousal ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Marmota Flaviventris ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Potential Predator ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites ◽  
Metabolite Concentrations

When individuals of a variety of species encounter a potential predator, some, but not all, emit alarm calls. To explain the proximate basis of this variation, we compared faecal glucocorticoid metabolite concentrations in live-trapped yellow-bellied marmots ( Marmota flaviventris ) between occasions when they did and did not emit alarm calls. We found that marmots had significantly higher glucocorticoid levels when they called than when they did not call, suggesting that stress or arousal may play an important role in potentiating alarm calls. Marmots are sensitive to variation in the reliability of callers. The present finding provides one possible mechanism underlying caller variation: physiological arousal influences the propensity to emit alarm calls.

Selective Forces Affecting the Predator Alarm Calls of Vervet Monkeys

Behaviour ◽  
1981 ◽  
Vol 76 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 25-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dorothy L. Cheney ◽  
Robert M. Seyfarth
Keyword(s):  
Inclusive Fitness ◽  
Observation Time ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Calling Behavior ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Vervet Monkeys ◽  
Adult Males ◽  
High Ranking ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Males And Females

AbstractVervet monkeys in Amboseli National Park, Kenya are preyed upon by four types of predator: mammalian carnivores, eagles, baboons, and snakes. Over a 14 month period, adult males and females gave first alarm calls at comparable rates. Both observation on the frequency of alarm-calling and experiments on the duration of alarm-calling indicated that high-ranking adult males and females gave alarm calls more often than low-ranking adult males and females. Individuals who alarm-called most often did not vocalize most often during social interactions, nor did they spend more time than others surveying the habitat around them. There was some tendency, however, for females who alarm-called most often to precede other females in group progressions. Limited evidence suggests that adult males who gave most alarm calls were more likely than other males to have fathered the group's juveniles and infants. Among adult females, however, there was no correlation between number of offspring and frequency of first alarm calls. Females who gave alarm calls most often were not more likely than other females to spend large proportions of observation time more than 2 m from their offspring. Data on a small sample of confirmed predatory attacks suggest that the offspring of high-ranking females may have been more vulnerable than other immatures to predation. Such differential vulnerability may have resulted in part from the tendency of the offspring of high-ranking females to precede other juveniles in group progressions. Vervets of all age/sex classes alarm-called most at those species of predators to which they themselves seemed to be most vulnerable. Adult vervets gave relatively few alarm calls to predators to which their offspring, but not themselves, were vulnerable, even though such alarm calls would have been of low cost to themselves and of great potential benefit to their offspring. While some aspects of the alarm-calling behavior of vervet monkeys are consistent with the hypothesis that their alarms have evolved to benefit kin, in other respects their alarms appear to have the consequence of benefitting only the alarmists themselves. It is likely that both kin and individual selection, acting on an individual's inclusive fitness, have played a role in the evolution of vervet monkeys' alarm calls.

THE EFFECT OF CHANGING CALL DURATION AND CALLING BOUTS ON VIGILANCE IN BRANTS' WHISTLING RAT, PAROTOMYS BRANTSII

Behaviour ◽  
2001 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
pp. 1287-1302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliza Le Roux ◽  
Michael Cherry ◽  
Tim Jackson
Keyword(s):  
High Risk ◽  
Low Risk ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Call Duration ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Functionally Referential ◽  
Long Calls

AbstractThe function of variation in single call duration and alarm calling bouts was investigated in Brants' whistling rat, Parotomys brantsii, by means of playback experiments and video analyses of the vigilance displayed. Short calls are produced in high-risk situations, and long calls in low-risk encounters, but these calls apparently do not communicate this variance in risk to conspecifics. Both short and long single calls induced heightened vigilance in receivers, but rats did not respond differentially to the two call types, and it was concluded that P.brantsii alarm calls are not functionally referential. Multiple calls maintained a state of increased alertness in receivers for a longer period than single calls, even after the bouts had ended, but long bouts (duration: 64 s) did not lead to longer periods of vigilance than short bouts (29 s). Thus the tonic communication hypothesis is only partially supported by our study.

scholarly journals Scared and less noisy: glucocorticoids are associated with alarm call entropy

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 189-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T. Blumstein ◽  
Yvonne Y. Chi
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Will Emit ◽  
Marmota Flaviventris ◽  
Call Production ◽  
Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites ◽  
Significant Negative Relationship

The nonlinearity and arousal hypothesis predicts that highly aroused mammals will produce nonlinear, noisy vocalizations. We tested this prediction by measuring faecal glucocorticoid metabolites (GCMs) in adult yellow-bellied marmots ( Marmota flaviventris ), and asking if variation in GCMs was positively correlated with Wiener entropy—a measure of noise. Contrary to our prediction, we found a significant negative relationship: marmots with more faecal GCMs produced calls with less noise than those with lower levels of GCMs. A previous study suggested that glucocorticoids modulate the probability that a marmot will emit a call. This study suggests that, like some other species, calls emitted from highly aroused individuals are less noisy. Glucocorticoids thus play an important, yet underappreciated role, in alarm call production.

scholarly journals Gone girl: Richardson's ground squirrel offspring and neighbours are resilient to female removal

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (9) ◽  
pp. 190904 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela R. Freeman ◽  
Thomas J. Wood ◽  
Kevin R. Bairos-Novak ◽  
W. Gary Anderson ◽  
James F. Hare
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Success ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Offspring Survival ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Territory Defence ◽  
Faecal Glucocorticoid Metabolites ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
High Predation ◽  
Pituitary Adrenal Axis ◽  
Urocitellus Richardsonii

Within matrilineal societies, the presence of mothers and female kin can greatly enhance survival and reproductive success owing to kin-biased alarm calling, cooperation in territory defence, protection from infanticidal conspecifics, joint care of young and enhanced access to resources. The removal of mothers by predators or disease is expected to increase the stress experienced by offspring via activation of their hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, increasing circulating glucocorticoids and reducing offspring survival and reproductive success. Yet, few studies have removed mothers in the post-weaning period to examine the assumed physiological and fitness consequences associated with these mortality events. We examined how the loss of a mother affects juvenile Richardson's ground squirrels' ( Urocitellus richardsonii ) faecal glucocorticoid metabolites and their survival. Given that neighbours are often close kin, we further hypothesized that conspecific removal would similarly diminish the fitness of neighbouring individuals. Upon removing the mother, we detected no impact on offspring or neighbouring conspecific faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in the removal year, or on overwinter survival in the following year. Furthermore, no impact on neighbour reproductive success was detected. Given the high predation rates of ground squirrels in wild populations, resilience to a changing social environment would prove adaptive for both surviving kin and non-kin.

scholarly journals Is the propensity to emit alarm calls associated with health status?

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 607-614
Author(s):  
Austin L Nash ◽  
Alexandra H M Jebb ◽  
Daniel T Blumstein
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Intestinal Parasite ◽  
Intestinal Parasites ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Health Measures ◽  
Immune System Activation ◽  
System Activation

Abstract The production and structure of animal signals may depend on an individual’s health status and may provide more than one type of information to receivers. While alarm calls are not typically viewed as health condition dependent, recent studies have suggested that their structure, and possibly their propensity to be emitted, depends on an individual’s health condition and state. We asked whether the propensity of yellow-bellied marmots (Marmota flaviventer) to emit calls is influenced by their immunological or parasite status, by quantifying both trap-elicited and natural calling rates as a function of their neutrophil-to-lymphocyte (NL) ratio, the presence of a blood borne trypanosome, and the presence of several intestinal parasites (Eimeria sp., Entamoeba sp., and Ascaris sp.). We fitted mixed effects models to determine if the health measures we collected were associated with the probability of calling in a trap and with annual rates of natural alarm calling. Marmots infected with a blood-borne trypanosome were marginally more likely to call naturally and when trapped, while those infected with the intestinal parasite Ascaris were less likely to call when trapped. NL ratio was not directly associated with in-trap calling probability, but males were more likely to call when they had higher NL ratios. Thus, health conditions, such as parasite infection and immune system activation, can modulate the production of alarm signals and potentially provide information to both predators and prey about the caller’s condition. Playback experiments are required to confirm if receivers use such information.

scholarly journals Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii) do not communicate predator movements via changes in call rate

2003 ◽  
Vol 81 (12) ◽  
pp. 2026-2031 ◽  
Author(s):  
David R Wilson ◽  
James F Hare
Keyword(s):  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Call Rate ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Spermophilus Richardsonii

The call rate of repetitive alarm calls produced by Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii) conveys the extent of threat during predator encounters. It remains unknown, however, whether changes in call rate communicate predator movements. That is, does an increasing call rate indicate an approaching predator and a decreasing rate the opposite? We presented free-living squirrels with moving predator models and recorded their responses. Vigilant behaviour increased more when predators approached versus retreated, suggesting that squirrels recognize the changes in threat associated with predator movements. Squirrels rarely produced alarm calls during these encounters, however, suggesting that squirrels do not rely entirely on alarm vocalizations to assess the threat posed by potential predators. Receivers of manipulated calls did not respond differentially to alarm calls containing an increasing or decreasing rate of syllable production. Thus, while rate may encode information about the extent of threat, Richardson's ground squirrels do not communicate predator movements via changes in call rate.

The cessation of contact calls does not provoke or modulate alarm behaviour in a social passerine

Behaviour ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Estelle Meaux ◽  
Chao He ◽  
Luying Qin ◽  
Eben Goodale
Keyword(s):  
Social Factors ◽  
Group Living ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Contact Call ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Alarm Behaviour ◽  
Contact Calls ◽  
Crucial Information

Abstract Vocalizations that signal predation risk such as alarm calls provide crucial information for the survival of group-living individuals. However, alarm calling may attract the predator’s attention and, to avoid this cost, animals can opt for alternative strategies to indicate danger, such as ‘adaptive silence’, which is the cessation of vocalizations. We investigate here whether abrupt contact call cessation would provoke alarm responses, or would reinforce the signal given by an alarm call. In an aviary setting, we conducted playback experiments with a group-living passerine, the Swinhoe’s white-eye, Zosterops simplex. We found that birds did not respond to a sudden call cessation, nor did they have a stronger response to alarm calls followed by silence than to alarm calls followed by contact calls. Confirming previous work investigating contact call rate, it appears that in this species contact calls encode information about social factors but not environmental conditions.

Variability in the Responses of Black-Billed Magpies To Natural Predators

Behaviour ◽  
1983 ◽  
Vol 87 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 209-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deborah Buitron
Keyword(s):  
Adult Mortality ◽  
Potential Predator ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Investment Theory ◽  
Nestling Period ◽  
Parental Investment Theory ◽  
Clear Cases ◽  
Breeding Seasons ◽  
Innate Fear ◽  
Predator Behavior

AbstractEncounters between black-billed magpies (Pica pica) and a variety of natural predators were observed during 3 breeding seasons in Wind Cave National Park, South Dakota. How a magpie responded to a potential predator appeared to depend on (1) the type of predator and the threat it posed to magpie eggs, nestlings, fledglings, and adults; (2) the behavior of the predator; and (3) the reproductive stage of the magpie. Raptors were the most frequently encountered potential predators, with magpies reacting more strongly to falcons than to hawks. Reactions to crows and squirrels were most frequent and intense during laying and incubation, while raptors in flight and coyotes were responded to most vigorously during the second half of the nestling period and the first two weeks of fledgling. Perched raptors were almost always mobbed vigorously. Diving to within 2 m of a predator appeared to be effective in driving it away. The roles of chasing and alarm calling were less clear, but in addition to alerting mates and offspring to danger, such behavior would impede efficient hunting by the predator and so might contribute to its departure. Only one successful act of predation was observed, but the evidence suggested that owls, hawks and falcons were responsible for most fledgling and adult mortality. No clear cases of nest predation by crows or squirrels occurred, but some clutches of eggs and broods of young nestlings disappeared. Although mates usually mobbed predators together, males were slightly more active, possibly because males were larger and because females were often occupied in the nest with incubation and brooding. Observations of wild fledglings and hand-raised magpies suggest that magpies have an innate fear response to a variety of stimuli and that fledglings gradually learn what to continue fearing from parents, other magpies, and their own experiences. I suggest that although parental investment theory may be basically correct in predicting that young increase in value to their parent as they approach independence, a variety of other factors may affect anti-predator behavior, such as (1) the types of predators likely to be encountered and the relative danger they pose to different age classes; (2) the ability of the parents to successfully drive off a particular predator; (3) the ability of the parents to re-nest that year; (4) the likelihood that a pair will be able to fledge young the following year.

ALARM CALLING IN THREE SPECIES OF MARMOTS

Behaviour ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 136 (6) ◽  
pp. 731-757 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Blumstein
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Vancouver Island ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Micro Structure ◽  
Stimulus Class ◽  
Call Structure ◽  
Alarm Calling ◽  
Degree Of Risk ◽  
Lines Of Evidence

AbstractMany species produce alarm calls that vary according to situation. Theoretically, alarm call structure could covary with predator type and could communicate potentially ''referential information, or calls could covary with the degree of risk a caller experienced when it emitted a call. Using similar methods, I studied the ways in which Olympic (Marmota olympus), hoary (M. caligata), and Vancouver Island marmots (M. vancouverensis) communicated situational variation. I observed both natural alarm calling, and I artificially elicited alarm calls with simulated terrestrial and aerial predators. I used playback experiments to study marmots' responses to different alarm call variants. All three species produced four roughly similar but distinctive loud alarm vocalizations that could be categorized by their relative shape, duration, and whether calls were quickly repeated to create multi-note vocalizations. In addition, the Vancouver Island marmot produced a fifth loud alarm call-the kee-aw. Call micro-structure varied as a function of the distance the caller was from an alarming stimulus and the type of alarming stimulus. Two lines of evidence suggest that all three species had alarm calls associated with the caller's risk (i.e. they were not referential). First, marmots often changed call types within a calling bout: there were no unique stimulus-class specific vocalizations. Second, marmot responses to alarm calls were graded: marmots did not have unique responses to different call types. These three close taxonomic relatives with superficially similar calls, communicated risk differently.

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