scholarly journals When the birds go unheard: highway noise disrupts information transfer between bird species

2016 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 20160113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron M. Grade ◽  
Kathryn E. Sieving
Keyword(s):  
Information Transfer ◽  
Animal Communication ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Noise Masking ◽  
Vehicle Noise ◽  
Highway Infrastructure ◽  
Highway Noise ◽  
Tufted Titmouse

Highway infrastructure and accompanying vehicle noise is associated with decreased wildlife populations in adjacent habitats. Noise masking of animal communication is an oft-cited potential mechanism underlying species loss in sound-polluted habitats. This study documents the disruption of between-species information transfer by anthropogenic noise. Titmice and chickadees broadcast specific calls to alert kin of predator threats, and sympatric vertebrates eavesdrop on these alarm calls to avoid predators. We tested if tufted titmouse alarm call eavesdropping by northern cardinals is disrupted by road noise. We broadcast recorded alarm calls to cardinals in natural areas near and far from highways. Cardinals reliably produced predator avoidance responses in quiet trials, but all birds in noisy areas failed to respond, demonstrating that highway noise is loud enough to disrupt this type of survival-related information via masking or cognitive distraction. Birds in family Paridae are abundant, highly social and vocal residents of woodlands across the Holarctic whose alarm calls are used by many species to mediate predation risks. Our work suggests that communication network disruption is likely to be widespread, and could help explain the pattern of reduced biodiversity near roadways.

scholarly journals Titi monkeys combine alarm calls to create probabilistic meaning

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (5) ◽  
pp. eaav3991 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mélissa Berthet ◽  
Geoffrey Mesbahi ◽  
Aude Pajot ◽  
Cristiane Cäsar ◽  
Christof Neumann ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Animal Communication ◽  
Language Evolution ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Multimodel Inference ◽  
Titi Monkeys ◽  
Callicebus Nigrifrons ◽  
Available Information ◽  
Free Ranging

Previous work suggested that titi monkeys Callicebus nigrifrons combine two alarm calls, the A- and B-calls, to communicate about predator type and location. To explore how listeners process these sequences, we recorded alarm call sequences of six free-ranging groups exposed to terrestrial and aerial predator models, placed on the ground or in the canopy, and used multimodel inference to assess the information encoded in the sequences. We then carried out playback experiments to identify the features used by listeners to react to the available information. Results indicated that information about predator type and location were encoded by the proportion of B-call pairs relative to all call pairs of the sequence (i.e., proportion of BB-grams). The results suggest that the meaning of the sequence is not conveyed in a categorical but probabilistic manner. We discuss the implications of these findings for current theories of animal communication and language evolution.

scholarly journals Heterospecific alarm-call recognition in two warbler hosts of common cuckoos

2019 ◽  
Vol 22 (6) ◽  
pp. 1149-1157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiangping Yu ◽  
Hailin Lu ◽  
Wei Sun ◽  
Wei Liang ◽  
Haitao Wang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Cuculus Canorus ◽  
Common Cuckoo ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Call Recognition ◽  
Accipiter Nisus ◽  
Main Host ◽  
The Common

Abstract Species facing similar selection pressures should recognize heterospecific alarm signals. However, no study has so far examined heterospecific alarm-call recognition in response to parasitism by cuckoos. In this study, we tested whether two sympatric host species of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus, Oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis (ORW, main host), and black-browed reed warbler Acrocephalus bistrigiceps (BRW, rare host), could recognize each other’s alarm calls in response to cuckoos. Dummies of common cuckoo (parasite) and Eurasian sparrowhawk Accipiter nisus (predator) were used to induce and record alarm calls of the two warbler species, respectively. In the conspecific alarm-call playback experiments, ORW responded more strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls, while BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than to sparrowhawk alarm calls. In the heterospecific alarm-call playback experiments, both ORW and BRW responded less strongly to cuckoo alarm calls than sparrowhawk alarm calls. BRW seemed to learn the association between parasite-related alarm calls of the ORW and the cuckoo by observing the process of ORW attacking cuckoos. In contrast, alarm calls of BRW to cuckoos were rarely recorded in most cases. BRW with low parasite pressure still developed recognition of heterospecific parasite-related alarm call. Unintended receivers in the same community should recognize heterospecific alarm calls precisely to extract valuable information.

scholarly journals Specific responses of cuckoo hosts to different alarm signals according to breeding stage: a test of the offspring value hypothesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 66 (6) ◽  
pp. 649-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaojiao Wang ◽  
Canchao Yang
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Host Responses ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Attack Behavior ◽  
Brood Parasite ◽  
Reed Warbler ◽  
Defense Strategies ◽  
Breeding Stage ◽  
Accipiter Nisus ◽  
Streptopelia Orientalis

Abstract The selective pressure exerted by avian brood parasites forces their hosts to evolve specific defense strategies. When subject to brood parasite attack, avian hosts will often emit alarm calls. To date, few studies have examined whether and how host responses to different alarm calls indicative of different enemies vary with the host’s breeding stage. We carried out alarm call playback experiments during both the egg and nestling stages of the oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis, a host of the common cuckoo Cuculus canorus. The playback exemplars were selected from recorded alarm calls of the warbler to the presence of common cuckoos, sparrowhawks Accipiter nisus, and oriental turtle doves Streptopelia orientalis, which represented brood parasite, predator, and harmless control, respectively. The results showed that the oriental reed warblers did not discriminate alarm calls issued to different intruder types, but the intensity of the response was significantly higher in the nestling stage than in the egg stage. Attack behavior related to sparrowhawk alarm calls was absent in the egg stage, but aggressive behavior increased dramatically and exceeded the attack frequency in response to the cuckoo alarm call in the nestling stage, implying a shift in the tradeoff between the parents’ own survival and the loss of offspring. Alarm calls attracted a larger number of conspecifics than members of other species. In general, the oriental reed warbler had consistently stronger responses to different alarm calls in the nestling stage than in the egg stage, supporting the offspring value hypothesis.

scholarly journals Host alarm calls attract the unwanted attention of the brood parasitic common cuckoo

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Attila Marton ◽  
Attila Fülöp ◽  
Katalin Ozogány ◽  
Csaba Moskát ◽  
Miklós Bán
Keyword(s):  
Bird Species ◽  
Context Dependency ◽  
Visual Signals ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Primary Host ◽  
Nest Location ◽  
Brood Parasites ◽  
Body Of Knowledge ◽  
Vantage Points

AbstractIt is well known that avian brood parasites lay their eggs in the nests of other bird species, called hosts. It remains less clear, however, just how parasites are able to recognize their hosts and identify the exact location of the appropriate nests to lay their eggs in. While previous studies attributed high importance to visual signals in finding the hosts’ nests (e.g. nest building activity or the distance and direct sight of the nest from vantage points used by the brood parasites), the role of host acoustic signals during the nest searching stage has been largely neglected. We present experimental evidence that both female and male common cuckoos Cuculus canorus pay attention to their host’s, the great reed warbler’s Acrocephalus arundinaceus alarm calls, relative to the calls of an unparasitized species used as controls. Parallel to this, we found no difference between the visibility of parasitized and unparasitized nests during drone flights, but great reed warblers that alarmed more frequently experienced higher rates of parasitism. We conclude that alarm calls might be advantageous for the hosts when used against enemies or for alerting conspecifics, but can act in a detrimental manner by providing important nest location cues for eavesdropping brood parasites. Our results suggest that host alarm calls may constitute a suitable trait on which cuckoo nestlings can imprint on to recognize their primary host species later in life. Our study contributes to the growing body of knowledge regarding the context-dependency of animal signals, by providing a novel example of a beneficial acoustic trait intercepted by a heterospecific and used against the emitter.

Vervet monkey (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) alarm calls to leopards (Panthera pardus) function as a predator deterrent

Behaviour ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 153 (5) ◽  
pp. 591-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lynne A. Isbell ◽  
Laura R. Bidner
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Vervet Monkey ◽  
Camera Traps ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Gps Data ◽  
Vervet Monkeys ◽  
Panthera Pardus ◽  
Predator Prey ◽  
Gps Collars ◽  
Chlorocebus Pygerythrus

Behavioural predator–prey interactions are difficult to study, especially when predators avoid humans. To gain greater understanding of their dynamism, we conducted a 14-month field study in which we minimized human presence by employing acoustic recorders and camera traps, along with GPS collars deployed on vervet monkeys (Chlorocebus pygerythrus) and leopards (Panthera pardus) in Laikipia, Kenya. Recordings at the vervets’ sleeping site revealed that they gave ‘leopard’ alarm calls most frequently near dusk and dawn, whereas photographs showed that leopards approached vervets more closely at night, when the monkeys alarm-called less often. GPS data showed that after vervets alarm-called, leopards within 200 m quickly moved away, changing direction, but when vervets did not alarm-call, leopards continued moving forward. These results reveal that vervets’ leopard alarm calls function as a predator deterrent in addition to a conspecific warning call.

scholarly journals The song remains the same: Juvenile Richardson’s ground squirrels do not respond differentially to mother’s or colony member’s alarm calls

2012 ◽  
Vol 58 (5) ◽  
pp. 773-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
James F. Hare ◽  
Kurtis J. Warkentin
Keyword(s):  
Adult Female ◽  
Escape Behavior ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Ground Squirrels ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Digital Audio ◽  
Predator Detection ◽  
Postural Responses ◽  
Limited Opportunity ◽  
Predator Model

Abstract Alarm calls are emitted by Richardson’s ground squirrels Urocitellus richardsonii in response to avian and terrestrial predators. Conspecifics detecting these calls respond with increased vigilance, promoting predator detection and evasion, but in doing so, lose time from foraging. That loss can be minimized if alarm call recipients discriminate among signalers, and weight their response accordingly. For juvenile ground squirrels, we predicted that the trade-off between foraging and vigilance could be optimized via selective response to alarm calls emitted by their own dam, and/or neighboring colony members over calls broadcast by less familiar conspecifics. Alarm calls of adult female Richardson’s ground squirrels were elicited in the field using a predator model and recorded on digital audio tape. Free-living focal juveniles were subjected to playbacks of a call of their mother, and on a separate occasion a call from either another adult female from their own colony, or an adult female from another colony. Neither immediate postural responses and escape behavior, nor the duration of vigilance manifested by juveniles differed with exposure to alarm calls of the three adult female signaler types. Thus, juveniles did not respond preferentially to alarm calls emitted by their mothers or colony members, likely reflecting the high cost of ignoring alarm signals where receivers have had limited opportunity to establish past signaler reliability.

Mapping Heavy Vehicle Noise Source Heights for Highway Noise Analysis

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Donavan and Carrie J. Janello ◽  
◽  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Noise Source ◽  
Noise Analysis ◽  
Heavy Vehicle ◽  
Vehicle Noise ◽  
Highway Noise

The evolution of functionally referential alarm communication

1999 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 135-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel T. Blumstein
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Referential Communication ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Repertoire Size ◽  
Motor Abilities ◽  
Antipredator Responses ◽  
Tight Association ◽  
Functionally Referential ◽  
Alarm Communication ◽  
Call Repertoire

Many species produce specific alarm vocalizations when they encounter predators. There is considerable interest in the degree to which bird, ground-dwelling sciurid rodent, and primate alarm calls denote the species or type of predator that elicited the vocalization. When there is a tight association between the type or species of predator eliciting an alarm call, and when a played-back alarm call elicits antipredator responses qualitatively similar to those seen when individuals personally encounter a predator, the alarm calls are said to be functionally referential. In this essay I aim to make two simple points about the evolution of functionally referential alarm communication. Firstly, functionally referential communication is likely to be present only when a species produces acoustically distinct alarm vocalizations. Thus, to understand its evolution we must study factors that influence the evolution of alarm call repertoire size. Secondly, and potentially decoupled from the ability to produce acoustically distinctive alarm vocalizations, species must have the perceptual and motor abilities to respond differently to acoustically-distinct alarm vocalizations. Thus, to understand the evolution of functionally referential communication we also must study factors that influence the evolution of context-independent perception. While some factors may select for functionally referential alarm communication, constraints on production or perception may prevent its evolution.

Semantics of an Avian Alarm Call System: the Male Domestic Fowl, Gallus Domesticus

Behaviour ◽  
1987 ◽  
Vol 102 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 15-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Marler ◽  
Roberta Pickert ◽  
Marcel Gyger
Keyword(s):  
Good Predictor ◽  
Domestic Fowl ◽  
Stimulus Object ◽  
Angular Size ◽  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
General Function ◽  
Contingency Table Analysis ◽  
Predator Detection ◽  
Call Structure

AbstractVocal alarm signals of male domestic fowl given in the presence of predators and other ground and aerial objects were recorded and analyzed. Studies were conducted under semi-naturalistic conditions and a telemetric technique was used to facilitate high quality sound recording. Cockerels gave ground alarm calls specifically to objects moving on the substrate and aerial alarm calls to objects moving above in free space. Vocalizations were associated with both dangerous and harmless objects. We therefore investigated variation in sound structure of aerial alarm calls with reference to flying predators and non-predators. A multidimensional contingency table analysis revealed a significant tendency for qualitatively different aerial alarm calls to be associated with flying predators and non-predators. Differences in call structure were restricted to the two first units of the alarm call. We tested the hypotheses that variation in aerial alarm call structure might be affected by either the distance separating the bird from the object or the angular size of the object projected onto the retina of the cockerel. Statistical analysis showed that the angular size was a good predictor of variation of the second unit of alarm call. The distance it self was less predictive. The first unit of the alarm call was not affected by either the distance or the angular size of the object. We propose that this part of the call has a more general function of alerting the conspecific companions. We conclude that alarm vocalizations of male domestic fowl refer specifically to a certain type of stimulus object, either moving on the ground or flying. For alarm calls correlated with aerial stimuli the specific angular size of a stimulus object moving in the air is a good predictor of call structure. We suggest that this way of dealing with flying objects as stimuli for alarm calls is the result of a predator detection strategy in which the benefits of an expanded field of vision, an important adaptation for ground-dwelling birds, exceed the costs of alarming to harmless birds and other aerial objects.

scholarly journals Male blue monkeys alarm call in response to danger experienced by others

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (5) ◽  
pp. 472-475 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Papworth ◽  
Anne-Sophie Böse ◽  
Jessica Barker ◽  
Anne Marijke Schel ◽  
Klaus Zuberbühler
Keyword(s):  
Alarm Call ◽  
Alarm Calls ◽  
Panthera Pardus ◽  
Playback Experiments ◽  
Cercopithecus Mitis ◽  
Group Members ◽  
Blue Monkeys ◽  
Budongo Forest

Male blue monkeys ( Cercopithecus mitis stuhlmanni ) of Budongo Forest, Uganda, produce two acoustically distinct alarm calls: hacks to crowned eagles ( Stephanoaetus coronatus ) and pyows to leopards ( Panthera pardus ) and a range of other disturbances. In playback experiments, males responded to leopard growls exclusively with a series of pyows and to eagle shrieks predominantly with hacks. Responses to playbacks of these alarm call series matched the responses to the corresponding predators, suggesting that the calls conveyed something about the nature of the threat. When responding to a series of hacks, indicating an eagle, males responded predominately with hacks, but produced significantly more calls if their group members were close to the playback stimulus than far away, regardless of their own position. When responding to a series of pyows, indicating a range of disturbances, males responded with pyows, but call rates were independent of the distance of other group members. The results suggest that males took into account the degree of danger experienced by other group members.

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