scholarly journals Frequent female song in blue tits: behavioural context suggests a role in intrasexual competition

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Sierro ◽  
Selvino R de Kort ◽  
Katharina Riebel ◽  
Ian Russell Hartley
Keyword(s):  
Vocal Communication ◽  
Peak Frequency ◽  
Systematic Sampling ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Acoustic Structure ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Female Song ◽  
Territory Defence ◽  
Blue Tits

The blue tit (Cyanistes caeruleus) is an important avian model in evolutionary ecology (> 20,000 published scientific studies). Song, like in other songbird species, is generally described as a male trait and plays an important role in mate attraction and territory defence. Over the decades, there have been recurring reports of anecdotal female song but these have not led to any quantitative study of female song in blue tits. Our systematic sampling over three years revealed prolific female singing in a northern population of colour ringed blue tits. Daytime singing of females occurred throughout the breeding season during agonistic interactions, solo songs and alarm situations, and these contexts are similar to male song. Notably, female song was absent during the dawn chorus; the period around sunrise when males sing intensively just before mating. Female and male song overlapped substantially in acoustic structure (i.e. same song types, peak frequency or trill rates) but there were also significant differences in that females had smaller repertoires, shorter trills and lower vocal consistency. Differential selections pressures related with contextual (functional) differences in the role of male and female song could explain the observed differences in acoustic structure. The new finding of prolific female singing in such a well-studied species suggests we ought to revise our understanding of male and female vocal communication in this (and probably other) species. Identifying the selection pressures associated to the convergence versus divergence of male and female song may provide important insight in understanding birdsong evolution.

scholarly journals Females don’t always sing in response to male song, but when they do, they sing to males with higher pitched songs

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander N. G. Kirschel ◽  
Zacharo Zanti ◽  
Zachary T. Harlow ◽  
Edgar E. Vallejo ◽  
Martin L. Cody ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Negative Relationship ◽  
Mate Guarding ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Territorial Disputes ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Female Song ◽  
Territory Defence ◽  
Strong Negative Relationship ◽  
Ancestral Function ◽  
Courtship Displays

AbstractThe long-held view that bird song is exclusively a male trait has been challenged recently by a number of studies and reviews highlighting the prevalence of female song. In spite of that, there remains a lack of knowledge on the function of female song, with most evidence thus far focusing on females performing duets with males in courtship displays, typically for joint territory defence or mate guarding purposes. Here we show in a tracheophone suboscine passerine Formicarius moniliger, a sexually monomorphic species in which both sexes sing, that females may participate in both intrasexual and intersexual territory defence. Females sing more in response to females than to males, suggesting they consider females more of a threat to their territory. Yet, females also demonstrate an unexpected pattern of singing back to playback of males singing higher frequency song than themselves. Unlike males, who respond indiscriminately to playback of any song performed by either sex, females appear to discern not only the sex, but perhaps also the size of the presumed intruder. There is a strong negative relationship between body mass and frequency, and females responding only to higher frequency male song suggests they will only engage in territory defence with males when they expect those males to be weaker than they are. While our results are consistent with expectations of a shared ancestral function of song in territory defence, they also suggest females may suffer greater costs in engaging in territorial disputes and thus limit their vocal contribution according to the perceived threat.

scholarly journals Sex role similarity and sexual selection predict male and female song elaboration and dimorphism in fairy-wrens

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karan Odom ◽  
Kristal Cain ◽  
Michelle Hall ◽  
Naomi Langmore ◽  
Raoul Mulder ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Selection ◽  
Sex Role ◽  
Social Selection ◽  
Sexual Competition ◽  
Selection Pressures ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Female Song ◽  
Latitudinal Patterns ◽  
Breeding Seasons

Historically, bird song complexity was thought to evolve primarily through sexual selection on males, yet in many species both sexes sing. Previous research suggests competition for mates and resources during short, synchronous breeding seasons leads to more elaborate male songs at high latitudes. In contrast, we expect male-female song dimorphism and elaboration to be more similar at lower latitudes because longer breeding seasons and year-round territoriality yield similar social selection pressures in both sexes. However, studies seldom take both selective pressures and sexes into account. We examined song elaboration and sexual dimorphism in 15 populations of nine fairy-wren species (Maluridae), a Southern Hemisphere clade with female song. We compared song elaboration and sexual song dimorphism to latitude and life history variables tied to sexual and social selection pressures and sex roles. Our results suggest that song elaboration evolved in part due to sexual competition in males: male song variability was more positively correlated with temperate breeding and greater breeding synchrony than female song. We also found strong evidence that sex-role similarity contributed to male-female song similarity: male and female songs were shorter and more similar when parental care was more equal and when male survival was high. Contrary to Northern Hemisphere latitudinal patterns, songs were less dimorphic at higher, temperate latitudes. These results suggest that selection on song can be sex-specific, with male song elaboration favored in contexts coincident with sexual selection. However, selection pressures associated with sex-role similarity also appear to constrain sex specific song evolution and song dimorphism.

scholarly journals Female song in the Cyprus Wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Patchett ◽  
Alexander N. G. Kirschel ◽  
Joanna Robins King ◽  
Patrick Styles ◽  
Will Cresswell
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Season ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Breeding Period ◽  
Territorial Defence ◽  
Multiple Functions ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Female Song ◽  
Mate Acquisition

AbstractFemale song is widespread across bird species yet rarely reported. Here, we report the first observations and description of female song in the Cyprus Wheatear Oenanthe cypriaca and compare it to male song through the breeding season. Twenty-five percent of colour-ringed females were observed singing at least once, predominantly in April, compared to 71% of males that continued singing through the breeding period. We suggest that female song may have multiple functions in this species, but it may be especially important in territorial defence and mate acquisition.

scholarly journals Personality in Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus) and its Effect on Their Breeding Success

Ethology ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 122 (8) ◽  
pp. 695-701 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Colchester ◽  
Nancy M. Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Breeding Success ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Blue Tits

scholarly journals Effect of tree logging on reproductive performance in Blue Tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

2016 ◽  
Vol 158 (1) ◽  
pp. 339-344
Author(s):  
Seyed Mehdi Amininasab ◽  
Charles C. Y. Xu ◽  
Sjouke A. Kingma ◽  
Jan Komdeur
Keyword(s):  
Reproductive Performance ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Blue Tits

scholarly journals Integrated behavioural and stable isotope data reveal altered diet linked to low breeding success in urban-dwelling blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus)

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Pollock ◽  
Pablo Capilla-Lasheras ◽  
Rona A. R. McGill ◽  
Barbara Helm ◽  
Davide M. Dominoni
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
Breeding Success ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Isotope Data ◽  
Blue Tits ◽  
Stable Isotope Data

Female song can be as long and complex as male song in wild House Finches (Haemorhous mexicanus)

2021 ◽  
Vol 132 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ar Kornreich ◽  
Mason Youngblood ◽  
Paul C. Mundinger ◽  
David C. Lahti
Keyword(s):  
House Finches ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Female Song ◽  
Haemorhous Mexicanus

Does the Threat of European Pine Marten (Martes Martes) Predation Influence the Height of Nests Built by Blue Tits(Cyanistes Caeruleus)and Great Tits (Parus Major)?

2014 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 83-90 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Kaliński ◽  
Jarosław Wawrzyniak ◽  
Mirosława Bańbura ◽  
Joanna Skwarska ◽  
Piotr Zieliński ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parus Major ◽  
Martes Martes ◽  
Pine Marten ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Blue Tits ◽  
European Pine Marten

scholarly journals Chromaticity in the UV/blue range facilitates the search for achromatically background-matching prey in birds

2008 ◽  
Vol 364 (1516) ◽  
pp. 511-517 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nina Stobbe ◽  
Marina Dimitrova ◽  
Sami Merilaita ◽  
H. Martin Schaefer
Keyword(s):  
Search Task ◽  
Cyanistes Caeruleus ◽  
Chromatic Contrast ◽  
Background Matching ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Chromatic Cues ◽  
Blue Range ◽  
Underlying Mechanisms ◽  
Chromatic Properties ◽  
Blue Tits

A large variety of predatory species rely on their visual abilities to locate their prey. However, the search for prey may be hampered by prey camouflage. The most prominent example of concealing coloration is background-matching prey coloration characterized by a strong visual resemblance of prey to the background. Even though this principle of camouflage was recognized to efficiently work in predator avoidance a long time ago, the underlying mechanisms are not very well known. In this study, we assessed whether blue tits ( Cyanistes caeruleus ) use chromatic cues in the search for prey. We used two prey types that were achromatically identical but differed in chromatic properties in the UV/blue range and presented them on two achromatically identical backgrounds. The backgrounds had either the same chromatic properties as the prey items (matching combination) or differed in their chromatic properties (mismatching combination). Our results show that birds use chromatic cues in the search for mismatching prey, whereupon chromatic contrast leads to a ‘pop-out’ of the prey item from the background. When prey was presented on a matching background, search times were significantly higher. Interestingly, search for more chromatic prey on the matching background was easier than search for less chromatic prey on the matching background. Our results indicate that birds use both achromatic and chromatic cues when searching for prey, and that the combination of both cues might be helpful in the search task.

scholarly journals Form and Function Predict Acoustic Transmission Properties of the Songs of Male and Female Canyon Wrens

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauryn Benedict ◽  
Braelei Hardt ◽  
Lorraine Dargis
Keyword(s):  
Signal Transmission ◽  
Male And Female ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Transmission Properties ◽  
Use Context ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Song Transmission ◽  
Typical Habitat ◽  
And Function

To function effectively, animal signals must transmit through the environment to receivers, and signal transmission properties depend on signal form. Here we investigated how the transmission of multiple parts of a well-studied signal, bird song, varies between males and females of one species. We hypothesized that male and female songs would have different transmission properties, reflecting known differences in song form and function. We further hypothesized that two parts of male song used differentially in broadcast singing and aggressive contests would transmit differently. Analyses included male and female songs from 20 pairs of canyon wrens (Catherpes mexicanus) played and re-recorded in species-typical habitat. We found that male song cascades used in broadcast singing propagated farther than female songs, with higher signal-to-noise ratios at distance. In contrast, we demonstrated relatively restricted propagation of the two vocalization types typically used in short-distance aggressive signaling, female songs and male “cheet” notes. Of the three tested signals, male “cheet” notes had the shortest modeled propagation distances. Male and female signals blurred similarly, with variable patterns of excess attenuation. Both male song parts showed more consistent transmission across the duration of the signal than did female songs. Song transmission, thus, varied by sex and reflected signal form and use context. Results support the idea that males and females of the same species can show distinctly different signal evolution trajectories. Sexual and social selection pressures can shape sex-specific signal transmission, even when males and females are communicating in shared physical environments.

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