scholarly journals Bird Song Learning is Mutually Beneficial for Tutee and Tutor

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Beecher ◽  
Çağlar Akçay ◽  
S. Elizabeth Campbell
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
Bird Song ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Mutual Benefit ◽  
Young Bird ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Fitness Consequences

AbstractSong learning is generally assumed to be beneficial for a young songbird, but merely incidental, without costs or benefits, for the older song ‘tutors’. In the present study we contrast two mutually exclusive hypotheses about the tutor/tutee relationship: (1) that it is cooperative, or at least mutually tolerant, with tutor and tutee mutually benefiting from their relationship, vs. (2) that it is competitive, with tutor and tutee competing over territory, so that one or the other suffers negative fitness consequences of their relationship. In a field study of three consecutive cohorts of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) we determined the older bird (primary tutor) from whom the young bird (tutee) learned most of his songs, and how long tutee and primary tutor survived subsequently. We found that the more songs a tutee learns from his primary tutor, the longer their mutual survival on their respective territories. This study provides the first evidence of a mutual benefit of bird song learning and teaching in nature.

scholarly journals Song sparrows Melospiza melodia have a home-field advantage in defending against sympatric malarial parasites

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 160216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanina Sarquis-Adamson ◽  
Elizabeth A. MacDougall-Shackleton
Keyword(s):  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
The Other ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Breeding Sites ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Capture Site ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
Home Field Advantage ◽  
Fitness Consequence ◽  
Host Parasite

Hosts and parasites interact on both evolutionary and ecological timescales. The outcome of these interactions, specifically whether hosts are more resistant to their local parasites (sympatric) than to parasites from another location (allopatric), is likely to affect the spread of infectious disease and the fitness consequences of host dispersal. We conducted a cross-infection experiment to determine whether song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ) have an advantage in dealing with sympatric parasites. We captured birds from two breeding sites 437 km apart, and inoculated them with avian malaria ( Plasmodium spp.) cultured either from their capture site or from the other site. Infection risk was lower for birds exposed to sympatric than to allopatric Plasmodium lineages, suggesting that song sparrows may have a home-field advantage in defending against local parasite strains. This pattern was more pronounced at one capture site than at the other, consistent with mosaic models of host–parasite interactions. Home-field advantage may arise from evolutionary processes, whereby host populations become adapted to their local parasites, and/or from ecological interactions, whereby host individuals develop resistance to the local parasites through previous immune exposure. Our findings suggest that greater susceptibility to novel parasites may represent a fitness consequence of natal dispersal.

scholarly journals Early nutritional stress impairs development of a song-control brain region in both male and female juvenile song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ) at the onset of song learning

2006 ◽  
Vol 273 (1600) ◽  
pp. 2559-2564 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian F MacDonald ◽  
Bethany Kempster ◽  
Liana Zanette ◽  
Scott A MacDougall-Shackleton
Keyword(s):  
Food Restriction ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Nutritional Stress ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Developmental Stress ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Control Brain ◽  
Song Control

Birdsong is a sexually selected trait and is often viewed as an indicator of male quality. The developmental stress hypothesis proposes a model by which song could be an indicator; the time during early development, when birds learn complex songs and/or local variants of song, is of rapid development and nutritional stress. Birds that cope best with this stress may better learn to produce the most effective songs. The developmental stress hypothesis predicts that early food restriction should impair development of song-control brain regions at the onset of song learning. We examined the effect of food restriction on song-control brain regions in fledgling (both sexes, 23–26 days old) song sparrows ( Melospiza melodia ). Food restriction selectively reduced HVC volume in both sexes. In addition, sex differences were evident in all three song-control regions. This study lends further support to a growing body of literature documenting a variety of behavioural, physiological and neural detriments in several songbird species resulting from early developmental stress.

scholarly journals High Level of Song Sharing in an Eastern Population of Song Sparrow (Melospiza Melodia)

The Auk ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 124 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R. Foote ◽  
Colleen A. Barber
Keyword(s):  
Song Learning ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Song Sparrow ◽  
First Year ◽  
Eastern Population ◽  
Song Sharing ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
The Mean ◽  
High Level ◽  
Song Types

Abstract Using shared songs is believed to be an integral part of neighbor communication and territory establishment strategies among many avian species with repertoires. Previous studies of two western subspecies of Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia) reported a high level of song sharing among neighboring males, whereas studies of an eastern subspecies have reported a very low level. The purpose of our study was to investigate another population of the eastern subspecies to determine whether higher song-sharing levels existed within its range. Every song in the repertoire of 29 males was compared with the songs of all other males to assess the number of shared songs. For each male, we calculated the mean song-sharing level with neighbors and non-neighbors. Males shared, on average, 33% of their repertoire with neighbors, significantly more than they shared with non-neighbors (27% of their repertoire). Two first-year males learned whole song types from several individuals and preferentially learned the song types shared among those individuals. Our results suggest that the eastern and western subspecies may not differ genetically in the way they learn songs, because song-sharing levels and song learning in our population were more similar to those of the western subspecies than to those of other populations within its own subspecies. Song-sharing differences among eastern populations may be explained instead by factors acting at the level of individual populations. Niveau Élevé de Chants Partagés chez une Population de l'Est de Melospiza melodia

scholarly journals Aggressiveness, reliable signaling and survival in a wild songbird

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Çağlar Akçay ◽  
S. Elizabeth Campbell ◽  
Michael D. Beecher
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Honest Signaling ◽  
Major Question ◽  
Aggressive Interactions ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Fitness Consequences ◽  
High Aggression ◽  
Reliable Signaling

The evolution and maintenance of honest or reliable signaling has been a major question in evolutionary biology. The question is especially puzzling for a particular class of signals used in aggressive interactions: threat signals. Here we report a study on song sparrows (Melospiza melodia) in which we assayed males with playbacks in their territories to quantify their aggressiveness and aggressive signaling levels and asked whether these affect their survival on territory. We found that the effect on survival of residual signaling (signaling above or below the level predicted by their aggressiveness) depended on aggression levels such that among males with low aggression, those with higher residual signaling scores had higher survival. The residual signaling did not have a strong effect among high aggression males. Aggressiveness by itself did not have an effect on survival. These results present a first step in understanding the fitness consequences of honest signaling in aggressive contexts.

The Territory Defense Function of Song in Song Sparrows: A Test with the Speaker Occupation Design

Behaviour ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
pp. 615-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Searcy ◽  
Stephen Nowicki ◽  
Melissa Hughes
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Bird Song ◽  
The Other ◽  
Matched Pair ◽  
Matched Pairs ◽  
Territory Defense ◽  
Considerable Evidence ◽  
Replacement Method ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Defense Function

AbstractTerritory defense is considered one of the primary functions of bird song, but this hypothesis has been directly tested in only a few cases. We used the speaker replacement method to ask whether song functions as a 'keep out' signal in song sparrows, a species for which there is considerable evidence supporting a mate attraction and stimulation function of song, but only indirect evidence that song functions as a signal to other males. We removed 11 matched pairs of male song sparrows from their territories, replacing one male of each matched pair with loudspeakers broadcasting that male's song (the 'experimental' territory) while leaving the other male's territory silent (the 'control' territory). In all cases in which encroachments or takeovers occurred, these occurred first (or solely) on the control territory of a matched pair, supporting the hypothesis that song functions in territory defense in this species. The incidence of intrusions on control territories was very low, however, posing difficulties for the interpretation of speaker replacement experiments designed to ask more specific questions about how song functions in male-male aggressive competition.

scholarly journals Resolving the conundrum of inbreeding depression but no inbreeding avoidance: Estimating sex-specific selection on inbreeding by song sparrows (Melospiza melodia)

Evolution ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 69 (11) ◽  
pp. 2846-2861 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane M. Reid ◽  
Peter Arcese ◽  
Greta Bocedi ◽  
A. Bradley Duthie ◽  
Matthew E. Wolak ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Inbreeding Depression ◽  
Inbreeding Avoidance ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Song Sparrows

Husbandry of wild-caught song sparrows (Melospiza melodia )

Zoo Biology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 206-209 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lori Smith ◽  
Sara Hallager ◽  
Erin Kendrick ◽  
Katharine Hope ◽  
Raymond M. Danner
Keyword(s):  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Song Sparrows

scholarly journals Fitness Correlates of Song Repertoire Size in Free‐Living Song Sparrows (Melospiza melodia)

2005 ◽  
Vol 165 (3) ◽  
pp. 299-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane M. Reid ◽  
Peter Arcese ◽  
Alice L. E. V. Cassidy ◽  
Sara M. Hiebert ◽  
James N. M. Smith ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Repertoire Size ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Song Repertoire ◽  
Song Sparrows

A field study of reproductive interactions in Bosca's newt, Triturus boscai

1995 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 357-374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manuel Mouta Faria
Keyword(s):  
Field Study ◽  
Natural Population ◽  
Wild Population ◽  
Short Circuit ◽  
The Other ◽  
Courtship Behaviour ◽  
Laboratory Studies ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Spermatophore Transfer ◽  
Sexual Interference

AbstractObservations of a free-living population of Bosca's newt, Triturus boscai, show that courtship behaviour in nature is similar to the behaviour observed in earlier laboratory studies. Complementary evidence was obtained on the behaviour called flick, which is sometimes inserted at the end of the static display phase, and may be viewed as an equivalent behaviour to the retreat display of the other small-bodied newt species. Sexual interference in the natural population was mainly caused by males. Two characteristic male behaviour patterns were recognised, the waiting position and the push-tail. Females tend to withdraw from situations of interference. Courtship sequences solely consisting of orientation and spermatophore transfer phases, so-called short-circuit sequences, may be interpreted as a male strategy to avoid the very severe male-to-male interference that exists in a wild population.

THE SOCIAL COSTS OF OBESITY: A NON-REACTIVE FIELD STUDY

1980 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-96 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter L. Benson ◽  
Drew Severs ◽  
John Tatgenhorst ◽  
Nancy Loddengaard
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Field Study ◽  
Graduate School ◽  
Social Costs ◽  
The Other ◽  
Cover Letter ◽  
The Social ◽  
Reactive Field ◽  
Health Administrators ◽  
Field Setting

The major purposes of this study were to investigate whether devaluation of obese persons, a phenomenon demonstrated exclusively in laboratory settings using reactive measures, generalizes to a nonreactive field setting. Seventy public health administrators were asked, via the mail, to help a college junior assess her chances of getting into graduate school and finding employment in this field. Subjects received a cover letter, a standard résumé∼, and a questionnaire. A picture of the student was affixed to some of the résumés. Subjects were randomly assigned to one of three picture conditions: obese, normal, or no picture. Forty-six percent of the questionnaires were returned. Significantly fewer forms were returned in the obese condition than in the normal and no picture conditions. On both the graduate school and employment questionnaire items, forecasts were considerably more pessimistic than in the other two picture conditions. Implications of these findings are discussed.

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