Birds sing at a higher pitch in urban noise

Slabbekoorn, Hans; Peet, Margriet

doi:10.1038/424267a

Cited by 868 publications

(620 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…How animals minimize the effects of environmental degradation on signal propagation is a classic focus of communication research (1)(2)(3) and is often central to understanding the way animals communicate (4)(5)(6) and interact with each other (7)(8)(9). Signal detection theory (10) and empirical studies (3) show that simple signal components suffer lower rates of environmental attenuation than more complex, information-rich components.…”

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confidence: 99%

Alert signals enhance animal communication in “noisy” environments

Ord

Stamps²

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

110

132

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Environmental noise that reduces the probability that animals will detect communicative signals poses a special challenge for longrange communication. The application of signal-detection theory to animal communication lead to the prediction that signals directed at distant receivers in noisy environments will begin with conspicuous "alerting" components to attract the attention of receivers, before delivery of the information-rich portion of the signal. Whether animals actually adopt this strategy is not clear, despite suggestions that alerts might exist in a variety of taxa. By using a combination of behavioral observations and experimental manipulations with robotic lizard "playbacks," we show that free-living territorial Anolis lizards add an "alert" to visual displays when communicating to distant receivers in situations of poor visibility, and that these introductory alerts in turn enhance signal detection in adverse signaling conditions. Our results show that Anolis lizards are able to evaluate environmental conditions that affect the degradation of long-distance signals and adjust their behavior accordingly. This study demonstrates that free-living animals enhance the efficiency of long-range communication through the modulation of signal design and the facultative addition of an alert. Our findings confirm that alert signals are an important strategy for communicating in "noisy" conditions and suggest a reexamination of the existence of alerts in other animals relying on long-range communication.animal signals ͉ habitat noise ͉ robotic lizard playbacks ͉ tropical lizard S ocial communication requires that signals be successively transmitted through the environment and detected by receivers. How animals minimize the effects of environmental degradation on signal propagation is a classic focus of communication research (1-3) and is often central to understanding the way animals communicate (4-6) and interact with each other (7-9). Signal detection theory (10) and empirical studies (3) show that simple signal components suffer lower rates of environmental attenuation than more complex, information-rich components. This results in a fundamental tradeoff in the evolution of signal design. A solution would be the production of a composite signal beginning with a simple conspicuous component (an "alert") that attracts the attention of a receiver, which is then followed by a more detailed "message" component

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confidence: 99%

Alert signals enhance animal communication in “noisy” environments

Ord

Stamps²

2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

110

132

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“…Animals have been shown to alter their behaviours in response to shifts in airborne acoustic noise level (e.g. Leonard & Horn, 2012;Quinn, Whittingham, Butler, & Cresswell, 2006;Rabin et al, 2006;Slabbekoorn & Peet, 2003), and here we show that similar mechanisms could be operating on the vibratory modality as well. We hypothesize that vibratory noise (medium and high noise levels) may exert two opposing effects on web spiders' prey detection sensitivity: (1) a sensitivity-increasing effect and (2) a masking effect.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 72%

“…Anthropogenic noise sources such as automobile traffic and construction create low-frequency substrate-borne vibrations that may overlap with frequencies commonly used by arthropods, and may propagate with only moderate attenuation (for example, the 16e250 Hz vibrations from underground rail systems; Kurzweil, 1979). Impacts of such noises may parallel those of acoustic noises such as traffic, wind turbines, shipping and seismic exploration (Hildebrand, 2009), which influence vocalization (Di Iorio & Clark, 2010;Lampe, Reinhold, & Schmoll, 2013;Lampe, Schmoll, Franzke, & Reinhold, 2012;Slabbekoorn & Peet, 2003), antipredator (Rabin, Coss, & Owings, 2006), foraging (Croll, Clark, Calambokidis, Ellison, & Tershy, 2001;Leonard & Horn, 2012;Schaub, Ostwald, & Siemers, 2008) and reproductive behaviours (Bee & Swanson, 2007;Halfwerk, Holleman, Lessells, & Slabbekoorn, 2011). …”

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Vibratory noise in anthropogenic habitats and its effect on prey detection in a web-building spider

Elias

2014

Animal Behaviour

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“…In such cases dialect maintenance will rely solely on limited dispersal and strong assortative mating. In isolated or small, newly colonized populations may still diverge by founder effects or the accumulation of random copy errors (Baker et al, 1987;Slabbekoorn & Peet, 2003). It is difficult to empirically verify the predictions of our model as pre-dispersal learning may be rare and restricted to species such as zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata (Zann, 1997) and Darwin's finches, Geospiza sp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

On the maintenance of bird song dialects

Planquè¹,

Britton

Slabbekoorn

2013

J. Math. Biol.

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Abstract. Many bird species, especially song birds but also for instance some hummingbirds and parrots, have noted dialects. By this we mean that locally a particular song is sung by the majority of the birds, but that neighbouring patches may feature different song types. Behavioural ecologists have been interested in how such dialects come about and how they are maintained for over 45 years. As a result, a great deal is known about different mechanisms at play, such as dispersal, assortative mating and learning of songs, and there are several competing hypotheses to explain the dialect patterns known in nature. There is, however, surprisingly little theoretical work testing these different hypotheses at present. We analyse the simplest kind of model that takes into account the most important biological mechanisms, and in which one may speak of dialects: a model in which there are but two patches, and two song types. It teaches us that a combination of little dispersal and strong assortative mating ensures dialects are maintained. Assuming a simple, linear frequency-dependent learning rule has little effect on the maintenance of dialects. A nonlinear learning rule, however, has dramatic consequences and greatly facilitates dialect maintenance. Adding fitness benefits for singing particular songs in a given patch also has a great impact. Now rare song types may invade and remain in the population.

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Birds sing at a higher pitch in urban noise

Cited by 868 publications

References 11 publications

Alert signals enhance animal communication in “noisy” environments

Alert signals enhance animal communication in “noisy” environments

Vibratory noise in anthropogenic habitats and its effect on prey detection in a web-building spider

On the maintenance of bird song dialects

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