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Vocally mediated consensus decisions govern mass departures from jackdaw roosts

Dibnah, Alex J. ; Herbert-Read, James E. LU orcid ; Boogert, Neeltje J. ; McIvor, Guillam E. ; Jolles, Jolle W. and Thornton, Alex (2022) In Current Biology 32(10). p.455-456
Abstract

In the early morning, large groups of up to hundreds or even thousands of roosting birds, sometimes comprising the entire roost population, often take off together in sudden mass departures. These departures commonly occur in low-light conditions and structurally complex habitats where access to visual cues is likely to be restricted. Roosting birds are often highly vocal, leading us to hypothesise that vocalisations, which can propagate over large distances, could provide a means of enabling individuals to agree on when to depart — that is to establish a consensus1 — and thus coordinate the timing of mass movements. Investigations of the role of acoustic signals in coordinating collective decisions have been limited to... (More)

In the early morning, large groups of up to hundreds or even thousands of roosting birds, sometimes comprising the entire roost population, often take off together in sudden mass departures. These departures commonly occur in low-light conditions and structurally complex habitats where access to visual cues is likely to be restricted. Roosting birds are often highly vocal, leading us to hypothesise that vocalisations, which can propagate over large distances, could provide a means of enabling individuals to agree on when to depart — that is to establish a consensus1 — and thus coordinate the timing of mass movements. Investigations of the role of acoustic signals in coordinating collective decisions have been limited to honeybees2 and relatively small vertebrate groups (<50 individuals)3–5 and have rarely included experimental validation2,3. Here, by combining field recordings with a large-scale experimental manipulation, we show that jackdaws (Corvus monedula) use vocalisations to coordinate mass departures from winter roosts. This provides empirical evidence for vocally-mediated consensus decision-making in large vertebrate groups.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Current Biology
volume
32
issue
10
pages
455 - 456
publisher
Elsevier
external identifiers
  • pmid:35609539
  • scopus:85130387951
ISSN
0960-9822
DOI
10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.032
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e9888f5e-6a96-41f5-aea9-b55d94b1346f
date added to LUP
2022-12-28 13:26:00
date last changed
2024-04-18 17:15:59
@article{e9888f5e-6a96-41f5-aea9-b55d94b1346f,
  abstract     = {{<p>In the early morning, large groups of up to hundreds or even thousands of roosting birds, sometimes comprising the entire roost population, often take off together in sudden mass departures. These departures commonly occur in low-light conditions and structurally complex habitats where access to visual cues is likely to be restricted. Roosting birds are often highly vocal, leading us to hypothesise that vocalisations, which can propagate over large distances, could provide a means of enabling individuals to agree on when to depart — that is to establish a consensus<sup>1</sup> — and thus coordinate the timing of mass movements. Investigations of the role of acoustic signals in coordinating collective decisions have been limited to honeybees<sup>2</sup> and relatively small vertebrate groups (&lt;50 individuals)<sup>3–5</sup> and have rarely included experimental validation<sup>2</sup><sup>,</sup><sup>3</sup>. Here, by combining field recordings with a large-scale experimental manipulation, we show that jackdaws (Corvus monedula) use vocalisations to coordinate mass departures from winter roosts. This provides empirical evidence for vocally-mediated consensus decision-making in large vertebrate groups.</p>}},
  author       = {{Dibnah, Alex J. and Herbert-Read, James E. and Boogert, Neeltje J. and McIvor, Guillam E. and Jolles, Jolle W. and Thornton, Alex}},
  issn         = {{0960-9822}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{10}},
  pages        = {{455--456}},
  publisher    = {{Elsevier}},
  series       = {{Current Biology}},
  title        = {{Vocally mediated consensus decisions govern mass departures from jackdaw roosts}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.032}},
  doi          = {{10.1016/j.cub.2022.04.032}},
  volume       = {{32}},
  year         = {{2022}},
}