Evaluating juvenile pied flycatcher sound preferences in a choice experiment
(2021) BION03 20202Degree Projects in Biology
- Abstract
- Many different species rely on secondary sexual traits to communicate fitness and individual value to potential mates. Songbirds are known to use many different secondary sexual traits, including visual displays, plumage coloration, and song; for territorial defense, mate attraction/assessment, and pair interactions. Song is thought to reflect key traits of singers including the species and populations they belong to, and individual traits. As a result, preferences for certain songs over others should provide adaptive benefits to receivers and thereby reduce the likelihood of hybridization and increase offspring fitness. Studies have shown preferences and discrimination abilities across many songbird species at the species-level,... (More)
- Many different species rely on secondary sexual traits to communicate fitness and individual value to potential mates. Songbirds are known to use many different secondary sexual traits, including visual displays, plumage coloration, and song; for territorial defense, mate attraction/assessment, and pair interactions. Song is thought to reflect key traits of singers including the species and populations they belong to, and individual traits. As a result, preferences for certain songs over others should provide adaptive benefits to receivers and thereby reduce the likelihood of hybridization and increase offspring fitness. Studies have shown preferences and discrimination abilities across many songbird species at the species-level, population level, at the within-song level, etc.. However, it is not fully understood precisely when or how these discriminatory abilities and preferences emerge, and few studies have looked at active behavioral preferences of juvenile songbirds during development. Therefore, in this study, we presented 7 juvenile pied flycatchers with a series of choice experiments where they could choose amongst different sounds by hopping on particular perches. Hopping on the perches triggered the playback of certain sounds, depending on the experiment, to be broadcasted through a speaker in the experimental chamber. Because songbirds learn song, any preferences indicated through a choice experiment could provide insight into environmental influence during development including from whom they learn song. We found that, when given the choice, juvenile pied flycatchers chose to listen to conspecific over heterospecific song, conspecific song syllables over conspecific song, and static environmental noise over conspecific song. In contrast, the juvenile pied flycatchers in this study showed no behavioral preferences for either a local or a foreign dialect, high-quality or low-quality song, or for conspecific song syllables versus pure-tones. Our results indicate that juvenile pied flycatchers can learn to use a set-up in which they can induce playbacks of song, and can use the set-up to show strong preferences for certain playbacks. Our results also provide some insight into early preferences in young pied flycatchers, including what they actively listen for and prefer at a young age, and potentially what role environment and timing play in song preferences during the course of development. (Less)
- Popular Abstract
- Evaluating juvenile pied flycatcher sound preferences in a choice experiment
Song has emerged as a communicative signal in many different animal groups; including insects, birds, amphibians, and marine mammals; serving as a method for advertising individual quality that can be used for mate assessment and territorial defense. Additionally, song can help facilitate species-level and population-level recognition. In oscine passerines (songbirds), song is a complex, culturally evolved trait that requires tutoring by adults of the same species in order for young birds to properly learn to recognize and produce conspecific song. Both male and female passerines undergo auditory learning during a sensitive period, where they are exposed to and... (More) - Evaluating juvenile pied flycatcher sound preferences in a choice experiment
Song has emerged as a communicative signal in many different animal groups; including insects, birds, amphibians, and marine mammals; serving as a method for advertising individual quality that can be used for mate assessment and territorial defense. Additionally, song can help facilitate species-level and population-level recognition. In oscine passerines (songbirds), song is a complex, culturally evolved trait that requires tutoring by adults of the same species in order for young birds to properly learn to recognize and produce conspecific song. Both male and female passerines undergo auditory learning during a sensitive period, where they are exposed to and subsequently build a sensory memory for species-typical vocalizations and song elements. Males then undergo a phase of vocal practice of song elements that they have stored in their sensory memories, eventually resulting in the production of adult song. Songbirds are very sensitive to conspecific vocalizations, including song, during their sensitive periods, and previous studies have shown that young songbirds are able to discriminate amongst different songs and conspecific vocalizations. Few studies, however, have investigated the role of active learning during development, including song preferences.
In this study, we examined the preferences and discrimination abilities of 7 juvenile pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) via a series of choice experiments. Our subjects were given the choice to land on a perch playing either of two song or noise playbacks, or on a silent perch. The perches were attached to weight sensors that were triggered upon landing. The weight sensors were further connected to a computer that was attached to a speaker. When a bird landed on the experimental perches, a particular playback (depending on the experiment) was automatically triggered and broadcasted through the speaker. This meant that the young birds could decide for themselves what to listen to, for how often, and for how long. We tested their preferences at 6 different levels: 1) conspecific (own-species) versus heterospecific (other species) song, 2) local (natal) dialect versus foreign (non-natal) dialect, 3) high-quality (complex) versus low-quality (simple) conspecific song, 4) conspecific song versus conspecific syllables, 5) conspecific syllables versus synthetic pure-tones, 6) conspecific song versus static environmental noise.
We found that the juvenile pied flycatchers showed discrimination abilities and preferences for conspecific song over heterospecific song, for syllables over conspecific song, and for static environmental noise over conspecific song. The juvenile pied flycatchers showed no preference for either a local or foreign dialect, high-quality or low-quality song, or for syllables or pure-tones. Our results provide insight into what young birds actively listen for during development, including preferences for particular song types or sounds (conspecific song, syllables, and static environmental noise). Though we found evidence for certain song and noise preferences at the behavioral level, it is still unclear if the birds were able to discriminate between treatments in the experiments where they showed no preferences, and further testing is needed to sort this out. Our findings also indicate that juvenile pied flycatchers can learn to use a choice-experiment set-up to show clear preferences. A set-up like this can further be used to disentangle timing for the emergence of preferences and song discrimination at different levels.
Masters Degree Project in Biology 60 credits 2021
Department of Biology, Lund University
Advisors: David Wheatcroft, Department of Zoology, Stockholm University &
Dennis Hasselquist, Department of Biology, Lund University (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9059870
- author
- Haley, Sofia
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BION03 20202
- year
- 2021
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9059870
- date added to LUP
- 2021-06-30 08:16:48
- date last changed
- 2021-06-30 08:30:19
@misc{9059870,
abstract = {{Many different species rely on secondary sexual traits to communicate fitness and individual value to potential mates. Songbirds are known to use many different secondary sexual traits, including visual displays, plumage coloration, and song; for territorial defense, mate attraction/assessment, and pair interactions. Song is thought to reflect key traits of singers including the species and populations they belong to, and individual traits. As a result, preferences for certain songs over others should provide adaptive benefits to receivers and thereby reduce the likelihood of hybridization and increase offspring fitness. Studies have shown preferences and discrimination abilities across many songbird species at the species-level, population level, at the within-song level, etc.. However, it is not fully understood precisely when or how these discriminatory abilities and preferences emerge, and few studies have looked at active behavioral preferences of juvenile songbirds during development. Therefore, in this study, we presented 7 juvenile pied flycatchers with a series of choice experiments where they could choose amongst different sounds by hopping on particular perches. Hopping on the perches triggered the playback of certain sounds, depending on the experiment, to be broadcasted through a speaker in the experimental chamber. Because songbirds learn song, any preferences indicated through a choice experiment could provide insight into environmental influence during development including from whom they learn song. We found that, when given the choice, juvenile pied flycatchers chose to listen to conspecific over heterospecific song, conspecific song syllables over conspecific song, and static environmental noise over conspecific song. In contrast, the juvenile pied flycatchers in this study showed no behavioral preferences for either a local or a foreign dialect, high-quality or low-quality song, or for conspecific song syllables versus pure-tones. Our results indicate that juvenile pied flycatchers can learn to use a set-up in which they can induce playbacks of song, and can use the set-up to show strong preferences for certain playbacks. Our results also provide some insight into early preferences in young pied flycatchers, including what they actively listen for and prefer at a young age, and potentially what role environment and timing play in song preferences during the course of development.}},
author = {{Haley, Sofia}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Evaluating juvenile pied flycatcher sound preferences in a choice experiment}},
year = {{2021}},
}