Alarm call‐based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits

Yu, Jiangping; Xing, Xiaoying; Jiang, Ying; Liang, Wei; Wang, Haitao; Møller, Anders Pape

doi:10.1111/eth.12624

Cited by 34 publications

(41 citation statements)

References 62 publications

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“…We decided to group breeding and nonbreeding gregarious species, because we assumed that social cognition, that is, the capacity to communicate with other individuals belonging to the same species, is a species-specific trait that may be manifest all the time (Yu et al, 2016(Yu et al, , 2017. We decided to group breeding and nonbreeding gregarious species, because we assumed that social cognition, that is, the capacity to communicate with other individuals belonging to the same species, is a species-specific trait that may be manifest all the time (Yu et al, 2016(Yu et al, , 2017.…”

Section: Ecological Variables: Gregariousness Trophic Guild and Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There was a positive correlation between gregariousness during these two periods (Kendall rank order correlation τ = 0.40, p = 0.020), implying that species that were gregarious during breeding also tend to be gregarious during the nonbreeding season. We decided to group breeding and nonbreeding gregarious species, because we assumed that social cognition, that is, the capacity to communicate with other individuals belonging to the same species, is a species-specific trait that may be manifest all the time (Yu et al, 2016(Yu et al, , 2017.…”

Section: Ecological Variables: Gregariousness Trophic Guild and Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Contagious fear: Escape behavior increases with flock size in European gregarious birds

Morelli

Benedetti

Dı́az

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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Flight initiation distance (FID), the distance at which individuals take flight when approached by a potential (human) predator, is a tool for understanding predator–prey interactions. Among the factors affecting FID, tests of effects of group size (i.e., number of potential prey) on FID have yielded contrasting results. Group size or flock size could either affect FID negatively (i.e., the dilution effect caused by the presence of many individuals) or positively (i.e., increased vigilance due to more eyes scanning for predators). These effects may be associated with gregarious species, because such species should be better adapted to exploiting information from other individuals in the group than nongregarious species. Sociality may explain why earlier findings on group size versus FID have yielded different conclusions. Here, we analyzed how flock size affected bird FID in eight European countries. A phylogenetic generalized least square regression model was used to investigate changes in escape behavior of bird species in relation to number of individuals in the flock, starting distance, diet, latitude, and type of habitat. Flock size of different bird species influenced how species responded to perceived threats. We found that gregarious birds reacted to a potential predator earlier (longer FID) when aggregated in large flocks. These results support a higher vigilance arising from many eyes scanning in birds, suggesting that sociality may be a key factor in the evolution of antipredator behavior both in urban and rural areas. Finally, future studies comparing FID must pay explicit attention to the number of individuals in flocks of gregarious species.

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Section: Ecological Variables: Gregariousness Trophic Guild and Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Ecological Variables: Gregariousness Trophic Guild and Bmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contagious fear: Escape behavior increases with flock size in European gregarious birds

Morelli

Benedetti

Dı́az

et al. 2019

Ecology and Evolution

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“…When Japanese Tits face avian predators, D notes can be produced alone or in combination with other notes that appear as note strings at the end of a call (Suzuki 2014). Yu et al (2017) also found that portions of the alarm calls of Japanese Tits in response to the Common Cuckoo contained D-note strings, and the tits even produced more D-type notes and fewer I-type notes per call when responding to Sparrowhawks than to cuckoos.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 81%

“…Japanese Tits produce alarm calls in response to predators, as reported by Suzuki (2012), as well as in response to the Common Cuckoo (Yu et al 2017). Furthermore, Suzuki (2014) demonstrated that Japanese Tits could alter the calling rate, note number and note combinations in alarm calls in response to martens and crows; for example, they produced more D notes for martens than for crows.…”

Section: Open Accessmentioning

confidence: 90%

“…The recording parameters were as follows: a frequency of 44.1 kHz and an accuracy of 24 bits. When recording the alarm calls, we could not discriminate the individual males and females (Yu et al 2017), but it seems that Japanese Tits cannot discriminate male and female alarm calls (Suzuki 2012(Suzuki , 2015. We then used Avisoft SASLab Pro 5.2 software (Avisoft Bioacoustics, Glienicke, Germany) to select three alarm calls from three individuals without considering their sex, and we selected one call with a high signal-to-noise ratio and no interference from heterospecific sounds or background noise from each individual.…”

Section: Playback Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Function of note strings in Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo: a playback experiment

et al. 2017

Avian Res

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Background: Birds produce alarm calls to convey information about threats. Some Passerine alarm calls consist of several note strings, but few studies have examined their function. Previous studies have shown that Japanese Tits (Parus minor) can alter the calling rate and number and combination of notes in response to predators. We previously found the combinations of note types in Japanese Tit alarm calls to be significantly different in response to the Sparrowhawk (Accipiter nisus) and Common Cuckoo (Cuculus canorus). Methods:Through playback experiments, we tested whether the note strings in Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo have different functions in conveying information. The note strings of selected alarm calls were divided into the categories of C and D, and different calls were then constructed separately based on the two note string categories. Original alarm calls (C-D), C calls and D calls were played back to male Japanese Tits during the incubation period.Results: Male Japanese Tits had a significantly stronger response to C calls than to C-D calls, and they showed a significantly stronger response to both C and C-D calls than to D calls, suggesting that Japanese Tits discriminated between the C and D calls. Conclusions:Our study demonstrated that the C-and D-category note strings of Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo have different functions, which supports the previous finding that different note strings in an alarm call can provide different information to receivers. However, the exact meanings of these note strings are not yet known, and further investigation is therefore required.

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Behavioral responses to conspecific mobbing calls are predator‐specific in great tits (Parus major)

Kalb

Randler

2019

Ecology and Evolution

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When facing a predator, animals need to perform an appropriate antipredator behavior such as escaping or mobbing to prevent predation. Many bird species exhibit distinct mobbing behaviors and vocalizations once a predator has been detected. In some species, mobbing calls transmit information about predator type, size, and threat, which can be assessed by conspecifics. We recently found that great tits (Parus major) produce longer D calls with more elements and longer intervals between elements when confronted with a sparrowhawk, a high‐threat predator, in comparison to calls produced in front of a less‐threatening tawny owl. In the present study, we conducted a playback experiment to investigate if these differences in mobbing calls elicit different behavioral responses in adult great tits. We found tits to have a longer latency time and to keep a greater distance to the speaker when sparrowhawk mobbing calls were broadcast. This suggests that tits are capable of decoding information about predator threat in conspecific mobbing calls. We further found a tendency for males to approach faster and closer than females, which indicates that males are willing to take higher risks in a mobbing context than females.

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Alarm call‐based discrimination between common cuckoo and Eurasian sparrowhawk in a Chinese population of great tits

Cited by 34 publications

References 62 publications

Contagious fear: Escape behavior increases with flock size in European gregarious birds

Contagious fear: Escape behavior increases with flock size in European gregarious birds

Function of note strings in Japanese Tit alarm calls to the Common Cuckoo: a playback experiment

Behavioral responses to conspecific mobbing calls are predator‐specific in great tits (Parus major)

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