scholarly journals Vocal repertoire and group-specific signature in the Smooth-billed Ani, Crotophaga ani Linnaeus, 1758 (Cuculiformes, Aves)

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 ◽  
pp. e20216159
Author(s):  
Ronan de Azevedo Monteiro ◽  
Carolina Demetrio Ferreira ◽  
Gilmar Perbiche-Neves

Vocal plasticity reflects the ability of animals to vary vocalizations according to context (vocal repertoire) as well as to develop vocal convergence (vocal group signature) in the interaction of members in social groups. This feature has been largely reported for oscine, psittacine and trochilid birds, but little has been investigated in birds that present innate vocalization. The smooth-billed ani (Crotophaga ani) is a social bird that lives in groups between two and twenty individuals, and which presents innate vocalization. Here we analyzed the vocal repertoire of this species during group activities, and further investigated the existence of a vocal group signature. The study was conducted in the Southeast of Brazil between May 2017 and April 2018. Two groups of smooth-billed anis were followed, Guararema and Charqueada groups, and their vocalizations were recorded and contextualized as to the performed behavior. The vocal repertoire was analyzed for its composition, context and acoustic variables. The acoustic parameters maximum peak frequency, maximum fundamental frequency, minimum frequency, maximum frequency and duration were analyzed. To verify the vocal signature of the group, we tested whether there was variation in the acoustic parameters between the monitored groups. We recorded ten vocalizations that constituted the vocal repertoire of the Smooth-billed Ani, five of which (“Ahnee”, “Whine”, “Pre-flight”, “Flight” and “Vigil”) were issued by the two groups and five exclusive to the Charqueada group. There were significant differences in the acoustic parameters for “Flight” and “Vigil” vocalizations between the groups, suggesting vocal group signature for these sounds. We established that the Smooth-billed Ani has a diverse vocal repertoire, with variations also occurring between groups of the same population. Moreover, we found evidence of vocal group signature in vocalizations used in the context of cohesion, defense and territory maintenance.

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shari Guerra ◽  
Juan Carlos Gonzalez ◽  
Emmanuel Francisco Rafael

The role of vocalisation for the Philippine hornbills' ecology and speciation and their implication in understanding speciation is not well understood. We described and compared recorded calls of seven hornbill taxa in captivity namely Mindanao Wrinkled hornbill (Rhabdotorrhinus leucocephalus), Rufous-headed hornbill (Rhabdotorrhinus waldeni), Luzon Rufous hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax hydrocorax), Samar Rufous hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax semigaleatus), Mindanao Rufous hornbill (Buceros hydrocorax mindanensis), Mindanao Tarictic hornbill (Penelopides affinis), Samar Tarictic hornbill (Penelopides samarensis), Visayan Tarictic hornbill (Penelopides panini) and Luzon Tarictic hornbill (Penelopides manillae), as well as comparison with the non-native Papuan hornbill (Rhyticeros plicatus). Vocalisation analysis included call duration, minimum frequency, maximum frequency, bandwidth and peak frequency. For each species in the sample, the mean and standard deviation were used to calculate the Cohen’s d statistic by using an effect size calculator. Results showed that the effect size for minimum frequency was small for P. panini vs. P. samarensis and B. hydrocorax vs. B. h. mindanensis. However, bandwidth, duration, minimum frequency, maximum frequency and peak frequency have large effect sizes for the rest of the allopatric species pairs. Hornbills' conspicuous resonating calls are sufficiently quantifiable for bioacoustic analysis and may provide new insights for their taxonomic review.


Author(s):  
Charles E. Taylor ◽  
Yi-Ju Wang ◽  
Martin L. Cody

We explored how Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) alter their songs when encountering noise in Grand Teton National Park. Different strategies for avoiding signal masking are used by other species of birds, yet there is a lack of information of birds’ responses to higher noise levels–above 65 dB; such levels are often found in National Parks that have many visitors. In this study, we investigated singing behavior of Yellow Warblers when facing noise that ranged from 30 dB to 80 dB. In these preliminary results, we found that some features of Yellow Warblers did not appear to change with background noise level, including mean minimum frequency, bandwidth and song length. Other song features we studied did show small but statistically significant changes with higher background noise, including the peak frequency and the mean minimum frequency, both of which were significantly negatively correlated with the level of background noise. This result is different from the positive correlations that are typically observed. We speculate that this difference is due to the very high dB levels of background noise that we observed.   Featured photo bywagon16 on Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/G2W6Bk


2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Sara Ferrari ◽  
Mitchell Silva ◽  
Vittorio Sala ◽  
Daniel Berckmans ◽  
Marcella Guarino

Cough is the element for monitoring and diagnosis of respiratory disease cause of mortality and loss of productivity in pig houses. In order to prevent as much as possible the outbreak of such diseases the aim of this research is to describe acoustic features of cough sounds originating from infections due to Actinobacillosis and Pasteurellosis and to compare them with healthy cough sounds provoked by inhalation of citric acid. The acoustic parameters investigated are peak frequency [Hz] and duration of cough signals. The differences resulting from the cough sound analysis confirmed a variability in acoustics parameters according to a state of health or disease in the animals. Sound analysis provides physic acoustic features that can be used as tool to label and detect cough in a automatic monitoring system applied in farms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-23
Author(s):  
Oluwaseun Aderonke Adeleke ◽  
Falilat Shadefunmi Alani

This study examined participation in social group and wellbeing status of rural women in Oyo State. A multi-stage sampling procedure was used to obtain data from 170 rural women who are members of selected social groups. Data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. More than half (54.1%) of the respondents had low level of social group participation. Benefits derived from social group participation were social control ( x̄ = 1.65), access to credits and loans ( x̄ =1.35), security of goods ( x̄ =1.62) and invitation to social functions ( x̄ =1.72). Time ( x̄ =0.64), distance of the meeting venue ( x̄ =0.45) and financial constraint ( x̄ =0.39) were some of the factors that affect social group participation among the women. There was no significant relationship between participation (r = 0.126) in social group and wellbeing status of rural women. Based on these findings, this study has implications for the assessment of social groups in rural communities as they serve as strong platform for dissemination of social and agricultural information. This study therefore recommends that social groups should be well organised by engaging in activities that will improve the quality of life of rural women in all spheres, this will increase their involvement in group activities, improve their wellbeing and ensure rural development.Keywords: Participation, social groups, social security, time, wellbeing


Behaviour ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 153 (12) ◽  
pp. 1445-1472 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro A. Ríos-Chelén ◽  
Gavin C. Lee ◽  
Gail L. Patricelli

We examined whether red-winged blackbirds modulate their vocalizations in response to experimental highway noise, alternating between ambient-control and noise-playback periods. Our measures of song duration were shorter, and with a lower value of freq5% (a measure of energy distribution), during noise-playback; however, we interpret these results as noise-induced artefacts. This apparent lack of vocal plasticity should be taken cautiously because we had a small sample size and most birds produced only one song type: song type-related vocal plasticity was unlikely to be found. We found no evidence of a shift in minimum frequency with noise when this was measured with a threshold method on power spectra, but it seemed to increase when measured by eye from spectrograms. Our results suggest that the by-eye practice can lead to bias, which is problematic as several previous studies have used this procedure. Use of the threshold method, over the by-eye practice, is encouraged.


Author(s):  
Yi-Ju Wang ◽  
Charles E. Taylor ◽  
Martin L. Cody

We explored how Yellow Warblers (Dendroica petechia) alter their songs when encountering noise in Grand Teton National Park. Different strategies for avoiding signal masking are used by other species of birds, yet there is a lack of information of birds’ responses to higher noise levels -- above 65 dB; such levels are often found in National Parks that have many visitors. In this study, we investigated singing behavior of Yellow Warblers when facing noise that ranged from 30 dB to 80 dB. In these preliminary results, we found that some features of Yellow Warblers did not appear to change with background noise level, including mean minimum frequency, bandwidth and song length. Other song features we studied did show small but statistically significant changes with higher background noise, including the peak frequency and the mean minimum frequency, both of which were significantly negatively correlated with the level of background noise. This result is different from the positive correlations that are typically observed.  We speculate that this difference is due to the very high dB levels of background noise that we observed.   Featured photo by wagon16 on Flickr. https://flic.kr/p/G2W6Bk


Author(s):  
Mahsa Ehsanpour ◽  
Alireza Abedin ◽  
Fatemeh Saleh ◽  
Javen Shi ◽  
Ian Reid ◽  
...  

1986 ◽  
Vol 64 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. L. Sjare ◽  
T. G. Smith

The underwater vocalizations of white whales, Delphinapterus leucas, summering at Cunningham Inlet, Northwest Territories, were recorded from mid-July to mid-August 1981 to 1983. A total of 807 tonal calls (whistles) were classified into 16 contour types. The following acoustic parameters were measured for each whistle: minimum, maximum, and mean frequency of the fundamental, contour or shape of the fundamental, duration, and the slope of the frequency changes during the call. Some 436 pulsed calls were classified into three major categories: click series, pulsed tones, and noisy vocalizations. Acoustic parameters measured for each of these calls included pulse repetition rate, range and mean frequency of the call, and duration. Results show that the whistle repertoire of white whales is more varied than has been previously reported. Mean frequencies for the whistle contour types ranged from 2.0 to 5.9 kHz; mean duration ranged from 0.25 to 1.95 s. Although whistles were the most commonly emitted type of vocalization, pulsed tones and noisy vocalizations made up a significant proportion of the white whales' vocal repertoire. The mean pulse repetition rate of pulsed tones ranged from 203.9 to 1289.0 pulses/s. There does not appear to be any between-year variation in the vocal repertoire of these white whales.


2008 ◽  
Vol 66 (2) ◽  
pp. 155-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Thornton

This article discusses the proposition that learning is an unexplored feature of the guided autobiography method and its developmental exchange. Learning, conceptualized and explored as the embedded and embodied processes, is essential in narrative activities of the guided autobiography method leading to psychosocial development and growth in dynamic, temporary social groups. The article is organized in four sections and summary. The first section provides a brief overview of the guided autobiography method describing the interplay of learning and experiencing in temporary social groups. The second section offers a limited review on learning and experiencing as processes that are essential for development, growth, and change. The third section reviews the small group activities and the emergence of the “developmental exchange” in the guided autobiography method. Two theoretical constructs provide a conceptual foundation for the developmental exchange: a counterpart theory of aging as development and collaborative-situated group learning theory. The summary recaps the main ideas and issues that shape the guided autobiography method as learning and social experience using the theme, “Where to go from here.”


2008 ◽  
Vol 88 (6) ◽  
pp. 1093-1097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcos R. Rossi-Santos ◽  
José Martins da Silva ◽  
Flavio Lima Silva ◽  
Emygdio L.A. Monteiro-Filho

The aim of this work is to describe the repertoire of calls utilized by the spinner dolphins (Stenella longirostris) in the southern Atlantic Ocean. We measured four acoustic parameters of the fundamental frequency of each call: (i) duration; (ii) frequency amplitude; (iii) minimum frequency; and (iv) maximum frequency. We also classified calls by their shape contour by visual inspection of the spectrograms. The obtained values for call duration were 0.046 to 2.08 seconds (mean 0.433, standard deviation (SD) 0.433), amplitude of 0.13 to 2.01 kHz (mean of 0.36, SD 0.29), minimum frequency of 0.22 to 1.80 (mean 0.55, SD 0.29), maximum frequency of 0.46 to 7.50 (mean 1.00, SD 0.89). We classified 73 calls by spectral contour, identifying six basic types of discernible calls, showing heterogeneity among the call types, with C1, C2 and C3 calls presenting higher frequencies, 21, 30 and 23%, respectively. We found that the calls of S. longirostris in the Fernando de Noronha Archipelago are more diverse and complex than previously recognized for spinner dolphins and further studies worldwide can reinforce the broad use of this sound for the species repertoire.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document