Age-Related Changes in Birds' Singing Styles

Kipper, Silke; Kiefer, Sarah M.

doi:10.1016/s0065-3454(10)41003-7

Cited by 70 publications

(56 citation statements)

References 166 publications

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“…Although it is unclear whether females paired randomly with EP sires or selected them by their absolute or relative age, it is certainly plausible that they could discriminate males of different ages because evidence suggests that female birds may respond to visual and auditory age cues. In some passerine species, for example, structural plumage coloration, ultraviolet signals, and song performance correlate with male age and possibly influence female mate preferences (Siefferman and Hill 2005;Budden and Dickinson 2009;Kipper and Kiefer 2010), and foot color of blue-footed boobies is a dynamic sexually selected ornament that loses intensity with age (Torres and Velando 2003. Olfactory cues could also be used; mice and humans can use smell to discriminate between differently aged conspecifics (Mitro et al 2012), and some birds discriminate among conspecifics on the basis of their odor (Bonadonna and Nevitt 2004;Strandh et al 2012).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive effects of male and female age on extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous seabird

Ramos

Nunziata

Lance

et al. 2014

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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Females sometimes obtain older sires for their offspring through extra-pair interactions, but how female age influences paternity is largely unexplored and interactive effects across the age span of both sexes have not been analyzed. To test whether female choice of sire age varies with female age in the blue-footed booby (Sula nebouxii), we examined associations between ages of both partners and the probability of extrapair paternity (EPP) in 350 broods of parents up to 22 years old in a single breeding season. Extra-pair paternity enables a female to select an alternative sire for her offspring and could function to avoid or achieve particular combinations of parental ages. A male age×female age interaction revealed that in young females (≤4 years), EPP decreased with increasing age of the social partner, whereas in old females (≥8 years), it increased. Moreover, sires of extra-pair (EP) chicks of young females paired to young males were on average 6.33 years older than the females' social partners. Since female boobies control copulatory access, this pattern could imply that young females choose old sires for their proven genetic quality and that old females avoid very old males because matings with them may risk infertility or genetic defects in offspring. Taking female age into account and observing across the whole age span may be necessary for understanding female age-based mate choice.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactive effects of male and female age on extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous seabird

Ramos

Nunziata

Lance

et al. 2014

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

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“…However, the castrated male starlings were already 6 years old (compared to the 2-4 year-old in this study). Therefore, a possible explanation for this difference might be offered by the observation that repertoire turnover (similar to repertoire increase; Eens, 1997) is often negatively age-dependent (Kipper and Kiefer, 2010). This furthermore also suggests that investigating the effect of age on (song) learning and the expression of song (Pavlova et al, 2010;Rivera-Gutierrez et al, 2012), as well as timing of changes in song traits (Meitzen et al, 2009), may be an interesting line of research for future studies.…”

Section: Groupmentioning

confidence: 99%

Testosterone increases repertoire size in an open-ended learner: An experimental study using adult male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

Hout

Pinxten

Darras

et al. 2012

Hormones and Behavior

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“…Common nightingales modify the repertoire composition between their first and second year to match those songs that are shared by most individuals within the population (Kiefer et al 2009;Kipper and Kiefer 2010). A similar process could take place in clay-colored thrushes, but more studies are needed to determine if syllable selection is arbitrary or not.…”

Section: Song Plasticity Between Successive Breeding Seasonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In one of these cases, this modification made the element more similar to one found in the repertoires of three other males from the same population. Repertoire changes during the first breeding season have been reported in other songbirds, usually leading to a higher proportion of repertoire sharing with territorial neighbors (DeWolfe et al 1989;Payne and Payne 1997;Nordby et al 2001;Kipper and Kiefer 2010). These changes typically result from dropping or adding repertoire components, but gradual transformation of song components is seldom reported, perhaps because it is rare in nature or difficult to detect.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Song plasticity over time and vocal learning in clay-colored thrushes

2015

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Songbirds have been traditionally classified into close-ended or open-ended learning species according to the length of the sensitive period during which birds are able to memorize new vocalizations. Closed-ended learners are generally not capable of changing their song after the first year of life, while open-ended learners show song plasticity as adults. A few Turdus species have been suggested to be open-ended learners, but no long-term study has been conducted to investigate their song plasticity over time. We analyzed the songs of clay-colored thrushes, T. grayi, over four successive breeding seasons to assess song plasticity in their syllable repertoires within and between breeding seasons. A total of 16,262 syllables were classified through visual inspection of spectrograms and multidimensional scaling analysis based on spectrogram correlations. On average, 563 ± 153 (SD) syllables per male per breeding season were analyzed. Male repertoire size was 9-20 syllable types. Males were capable of modifying their syllable repertoire between the initial and final periods of the breeding season. Song plasticity within breeding seasons may be associated with imitation between neighboring males, suggesting song learning in males that were ≥2 years old. This short-term plasticity is not enough, however, to explain the high proportion of change (mean = 65 % syllable types) in repertoire composition between breeding seasons in adult males. Song plasticity resulting from annual changes in repertoire composition could be explained by open-ended learning, but another mechanism, extended memory and re-expression, could also explain long-term plasticity. Experimental studies controlling the acoustic environment are needed to determine which mechanism is responsible for such a high level of song plasticity.

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Age-Related Changes in Birds' Singing Styles

Cited by 70 publications

References 166 publications

Interactive effects of male and female age on extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous seabird

Interactive effects of male and female age on extra-pair paternity in a socially monogamous seabird

Testosterone increases repertoire size in an open-ended learner: An experimental study using adult male European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris)

Song plasticity over time and vocal learning in clay-colored thrushes

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