scholarly journals Avian communication networks: how audible are mountain chickadee males during dawn signalling?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Cara Snell
Keyword(s):  
Communication Networks ◽  
Complex Dynamics ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Urban Noise ◽  
Nest Box ◽  
Urban Males ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Mountain Chickadee ◽  
Avian Communication ◽  
Mountain Chickadees

My thesis investigates how urban noise influences the relative audibility of songs to female Mountain Chickadees (Poecile gambeli), who assess male signalling at dawn while roosting within the nest cavity. Over two breeding seasons, I monitored Mountain Chickadees breeding on an urban/rural interface in Kamloops, BC, Canada. I broadcast typical Mountain Chickadee songs, with or without added noise, towards recently unoccupied nests while simultaneously re-recording these songs with microphones outside and inside the nest box to determine the relative audibility in relation to both distance and presence/absence of noise. I then tracked individual males’ behaviour and movement during dawn signalling, while passively recording their songs with microphones — outside and inside the nest box — to determine the relative audibility of signals from the perspective of the roosting female. The relative audibility of songs decreased with increasing distance from the nest, which was compounded by increased urban noise. During dawn signalling, urban males respond to these effects by remaining closer to the nest, resulting in their songs being more audible within the nest than their rural counterparts. Overall, ambient noise and distance had an interactive effect on relative audibility of songs, suggesting complex dynamics of communication networks that may result in a trade-off, where males are forced to prioritize directing their signals to either their social mates or neighbours.

scholarly journals Learning to cope: vocal adjustment to urban noise is correlated with prior experience in black-capped chickadees

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1833) ◽  
pp. 20161058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefanie E. LaZerte ◽  
Hans Slabbekoorn ◽  
Ken A. Otter
Keyword(s):  
Ambient Noise ◽  
Prior Experience ◽  
Traffic Noise ◽  
Experimental Studies ◽  
Previous Exposure ◽  
Poecile Atricapillus ◽  
Urban Noise ◽  
Experimental Noise ◽  
Avian Communication ◽  
The City

Urban noise can interfere with avian communication through masking, but birds can reduce this interference by altering their vocalizations. Although several experimental studies indicate that birds can rapidly change their vocalizations in response to sudden increases in ambient noise, none have investigated whether this is a learned response that depends on previous exposure. Black-capped chickadees ( Poecile atricapillus ) change the frequency of their songs in response to both fluctuating traffic noise and experimental noise. We investigated whether these responses to fluctuating noise depend on familiarity with noise. We confirmed that males in noisy areas sang higher-frequency songs than those in quiet areas, but found that only males in already-noisy territories shifted songs upwards in immediate response to experimental noise. Unexpectedly, males in more quiet territories shifted songs downwards in response to experimental noise. These results suggest that chickadees may require prior experience with fluctuating noise to adjust vocalizations in such a way as to minimize masking. Thus, learning to cope may be an important part of adjusting to acoustic life in the city.

Effects of parental condition and nesting habitat on sex allocation in the mountain chickadee

Behaviour ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 154 (11) ◽  
pp. 1101-1121 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erica S. Bonderud ◽  
Ken A. Otter ◽  
Brent W. Murray ◽  
Kristen L.D. Marini ◽  
Theresa M. Burg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Habitat Quality ◽  
Sex Allocation ◽  
Breeding Habitat ◽  
Reproductive Value ◽  
Urban Habitat ◽  
Habitat Gradient ◽  
Offspring Sex ◽  
Sex Allocation Theory ◽  
Mountain Chickadee ◽  
Mountain Chickadees

When the reproductive value of sons vs. daughters differs, sex allocation theory predicts females should bias the sex ratio of their broods towards the higher-value sex. Females in numerous bird species appear to bias offspring sex in response to self and mate condition, and breeding habitat quality. Over three breeding seasons, we monitored mountain chickadees breeding along a rural to urban habitat gradient. We did not find female condition or the condition of the putative father or true genetic father to influence offspring sex. We found marginal evidence for sex allocation in relation to habitat urbanization, though opposite to our predictions. In urban habitat, offspring were more likely to be female as the degree of habitat urbanization increased. We suggest habitat quality may be influential in mountain chickadee reproductive decisions; however, the ecology of mountain chickadees may not fulfill the assumptions of sex allocation theory.

Female rock sparrows (Petronia petronia), not males, respond differently to simulations of different courtship interaction outcomes

Behaviour ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 144 (7) ◽  
pp. 735-752 ◽  
Author(s):  
Torben Dabelsteen ◽  
Tom Peake ◽  
Giuliano Matessi ◽  
Peter McGregor
Keyword(s):  
Communication Networks ◽  
Nest Site ◽  
Breeding Strategy ◽  
Mating Strategies ◽  
Nest Box ◽  
Nest Sites ◽  
Sexual Behaviours ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Female Signalling ◽  
Vocal Interactions

AbstractAnimals communicate in networks which spread beyond the classic sender-receiver dyad. Researchers have often concentrated on networks of signalling males, but the network-level effects of male-female signalling interactions are largely unexplored, even though these can contain information when individuals of both sexes have access to a range of mating strategies. We tested whether rock sparrows (Petronia petronia) behave differently after hearing playbacks of vocal interactions simulating a successful courtship as opposed to playback of an unsuccessful courtship. We found no support for our prediction that males which heard a successful courtship simulation would increase the frequency of sexual behaviours compared with those which heard the unsuccessful courtship. Females which heard the successful courtship simulation stayed longer at the nest site and inside the nest box compared with those which heard the unsuccessful courtship simulation. Therefore, females responded to the treatments as if these represented different degrees of competition for either mates or nest sites. This is, to the best of our knowledge, among the first experimental demonstrations that female birds intercept signalling interactions between males and females and suggests that information available through communication networks can be relevant for an animal's choice of breeding strategy.

scholarly journals AVIAN COMMUNICATION IN URBAN NOISE: CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF VOCAL ADJUSTMENT

The Auk ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 639 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail L. Patricelli ◽  
Jessica L. Blickley
Keyword(s):  
Urban Noise ◽  
Avian Communication

scholarly journals Enhanced drought resistance of vegetation growth in cities due to urban heat, CO2 domes and O3 troughs

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peng Fu ◽  
Leiqiu Hu ◽  
Elizabeth A Ainsworth ◽  
Xiaonan Tai ◽  
Soe W Myint ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drought Resistance ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Interactive Effect ◽  
Carbon Dynamics ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Terrestrial Carbon ◽  
Vegetation Growth ◽  
Urban Rural

Abstract Sustained increase in atmospheric CO2 is strongly coupled with rising temperature and persistent droughts. While elevated CO2 promotes photosynthesis and growth of vegetation, drier and warmer climate tends to negate this benefit, complicating the prediction of future terrestrial carbon dynamics. Manipulative studies such as Free Air CO2 Enrichment experiments have been useful to study the interaction effect of global change factors on vegetation growth; however, their results do not easily transfer to natural ecosystems partly due to their short-duration nature and limited consideration of climatic gradients and potential confounding factors, such as O3. Urban environments serve as a useful small-scale analogy of future climate. Here, we develop a data-driven approach using urban environments as test beds for revealing the interactive effect of changing temperature and CO2 on vegetation response to drought. Using 75 urban-rural paired plots from three climate zones over the conterminous United States (CONUS), we find vegetation in urban areas exhibits a much stronger resistance to drought than in rural areas and the enhanced drought resistance across CONUS is attributed to rising temperature and CO2 and reduced O3 concentration in cities. The controlling factor(s) responsible for urban-rural differences in drought resistance of vegetation varies across climate regions, such as surface O3 gradients in the arid climate, and surface CO2 and O3 gradients in the temperate and continental climates. Thus, our study provides new observational insights on the impacts of competing factors on vegetation growth at a large scale, and ultimately, helps reduce uncertainties in understanding terrestrial carbon dynamics.

scholarly journals Avian Communication in Urban Noise: Causes and Consequences of Vocal Adjustment

The Auk ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 123 (3) ◽  
pp. 639-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gail L. Patricelli ◽  
Jessica L. Blickley
Keyword(s):  
Urban Noise ◽  
Avian Communication

scholarly journals Urban-nesting mountain chickadees have a reduced response to a simulated predator

Behaviour ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Blaire L. Smith ◽  
Cara L. Snell ◽  
Matthew W. Reudink ◽  
Ken A. Otter
Keyword(s):  
Nest Defence ◽  
Perceived Threat ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Nest Box ◽  
Nest Boxes ◽  
Poecile Gambeli ◽  
Defence Behaviour ◽  
Predator Model ◽  
Mountain Chickadees ◽  
Predator Behaviour

Abstract Anti-predator behaviour is common among birds, but little research exists on whether differences in the predator landscape between urban and rural habitats results in differential anti-predator behaviour. We compared nest-defence behaviour of mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) in urban and rural habitats in Kamloops, BC, Canada to a simulated predator model (snake) on top of nest boxes while incubating females were away from nests on foraging bouts. Upon their return, we recorded proximity to the predator model, latency to contact the nest box and enter the nest, and number of gargle and chick-a-dee calls as measures of anti-predator behaviour and compared multivariate “predator aversion scores” across birds occupying either rural or urban landscapes. Rural-nesting birds had more aversive reactions to the predator model than the urban-nesting birds, which may suggest differences in perceived threat of the model, in combination with increased boldness associated with urban-nesting birds.

scholarly journals Within group and between group comparisons of political and apolitical voters of Bangladesh with personality dimension of authoritarianism

1970 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
pp. 69-73
Author(s):  
Syed Md Ziauddin
Keyword(s):  
Group Composition ◽  
Female Gender ◽  
Political Affiliation ◽  
Gender Recognition ◽  
Personality Dimension ◽  
Political Group ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Urban Males ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Group Comparisons

The study attempted to measure authoritarianism, as related to political-apolitical group composition, male-female gender recognition and urban-rural residential background of the subjects. Kool's (1980) authoritarian scale was used. A total of 320 subjects were equally divided into political and apolitical groups. Thus a 2×2×2 factorial design involving 2 levels of group composition (political vs. apolitical), 2 levels of gender (male vs. female) and 2 levels of residential background (urban vs. rural) was used. Results were analyzed using t-tests on the scores of authoritarian scale. Although no significant difference was obtained between political and apolitical groups (N=160), within-group comparisons revealed that urban females of political affiliation were more authoritarian than the urban males, rural males and rural females (N=40 for each). Again urban females of apolitical group were found more authoritarian than urban males, rural males and rural females (N=40 for each). A comparison between groups of political and apolitical subjects revealed that urban females of political group were more authoritarian than rural males and rural females of apolitical groups (N=40 for each). On the other hand, urban females of apolitical group were found more authoritarian than urban males, rural males and rural females of political affiliation. Irrespective of gender, political urban subjects were more authoritarian than apolitical rural subjects (N=80) while apolitical urban subjects were more authoritarian than political rural subjects (N=80). Key words: Political and apolitical voters; authoritarianism; personality dimension; Kool's authoritarian scale DOI: 10.3329/jles.v5i0.7353 J. Life Earth Sci., Vol. 5: 69-73, 2010

scholarly journals Sympatric song variant in mountain chickadees Poecile gambeli does not reduce aggression from black-capped chickadees Poecile atricapillus

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-59
Author(s):  
Cara L. Snell ◽  
Stefanie E. LaZerte ◽  
Matthew W. Reudink ◽  
Ken A. Otter
Keyword(s):  
Mixed Model ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Character Displacement ◽  
Poecile Atricapillus ◽  
Mixed Model Analysis ◽  
Poecile Gambeli ◽  
Mountain Chickadee ◽  
Mountain Chickadees ◽  
Negative Interactions ◽  
Geographic Overlap

Abstract When habitats overlap and species compete for resources, negative interactions frequently occur. Character displacement in the form of behavioural, social or morphological divergences between closely related species can act to reduce negative interactions and often arise in regions of geographic overlap. Mountain chickadees Poecile gambeli have an altered song structure in regions of geographic overlap with the behaviourally dominant black-capped chickadee Poecile atricapillus. Similar to European and Asian tits, altered song in mountain chickadees may decrease aggression from black-capped chickadees. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a playback study in Prince George, BC, Canada, to examine how black-capped chickadees responded to the songs of mountain chickadees recorded in regions where the two species were either sympatric or allopatric. We used principal component analysis (PCA) to collapse behavioural response variables into a single ‘approach’ variable and a single ‘vocalisation’ variable. We then used mixed-model analysis to determine whether there was a difference in approach or vocalisation response to the two types of mountain chickadee songs (allopatric songs and variant sympatric songs). Black-capped chickadees responded with equal intensity to both types of mountain chickadee songs, suggesting that the variant mountain chickadee songs from regions of sympatry with black-capped chickadees do not reduce heterospecific aggression. To our knowledge, this is the only instance of a character shift unassociated with reduced aggression in the family Paridae and raises interesting questions about the selective pressures leading to the evolution of this song divergence.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document