Dawn song predicts behaviour during territory conflicts in personality-typed great tits

Snijders, Lysanne; Rooij, E.P. van; Henskens, M.F.A.; Oers, Kees van; Naguib, Marc

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2015.07.037

Cited by 23 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 57 publications

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“…The nature of interactions between territorial neighbours may differ considerably depending on their personalities. Shy great tits tend to respond less strongly to social confrontation than bold individuals, in terms of both territorial intrusion and approaches from the opposite sex (Amy et al., 2010, Carere et al., 2005, Snijders et al., 2015b). A potential consequence of this spatial assortment is that fights during the establishment and maintenance of territory boundaries may be less intense or less frequent between shyer individuals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male great tits assort by personality during the breeding season

et al. 2017

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Animal personalities can influence social interactions among individuals, and thus have major implications for population processes and structure. Few studies have investigated the significance of the social context of animal personalities, and such research has largely focused on the social organization of nonterritorial populations. Here we address the question of whether exploratory behaviour, a well-studied personality trait, is related to the social structure of a wild great tit, Parus major, population during the breeding season. We assayed the exploration behaviour of wild-caught great tits and then established the phenotypic spatial structure of the population over six consecutive breeding seasons. Network analyses of breeding proximity revealed that males, but not females, show positive assortment by behavioural phenotype, with males breeding closer to those of similar personalities. This assortment was detected when we used networks based on nearest neighbours, but not when we used the Thiessen polygon method where neighbours were defined from inferred territory boundaries. Further analysis found no relationship between personality assortment and local environmental conditions, suggesting that social processes may be more important than environmental variation in influencing male territory choice. This social organization during the breeding season has implications for the strength and direction of both natural and sexual selection on personality in wild animal populations.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Male great tits assort by personality during the breeding season

et al. 2017

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“…Exploratory behavior, an individual's response to a novel environment (Verbeek et al., ), is repeatable and predictive for behavior in many other contexts (Groothuis & Carere, ; van Oers & Naguib, ). We first tested whether the vocal response of the territorial male was related to his exploration behavior, as shown earlier in our study population (Amy et al., ; Snijders, van Rooij, Henskens, van Oers, & Naguib, ). See Dingemanse et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We broadcast a great tit recording of approximate two min comprising a repetition of one song type of a great tit recorded at least 4 years earlier (Snijders, van Rooij, et al., ). To be able to draw generalizable conclusions and avoid issues with some males potentially hearing the same stimulus multiple times (McGregor, ), each subject received songs recorded from a different male.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We recorded subject's songs using two Sennheiser ME66/K6 microphones (Sennheiser Electronic GmbH & Co. KG, Wedemark, Germany), with a frequency range of 40 Hz–20 kHz ± 2.5 dB and a Marantz PMD660 solid‐state recorder (D&M Holdings Inc., Kanagawa, Japan), with a sampling frequency of 44.1 kHz and a frequency range of 16 kHz ± 0.5 dB, until two min after the end of the playback. From the recordings and from simultaneously recorded spoken notes, we quantified four vocal response measures: (1) the number of song overlaps by the subject; thus, the number of occasions a subject would not wait with vocalizing until the simulated intruder finished a song, (2) the total number of songs during total observation time (playback + 2 min), (3) the number of songs by the subject during the actual playback, and (4) the total singing duration (s), as well as two spatial response measures: (5) total time spent within 5 min of the loudspeaker (s) and (6) latency to approach within 5 min (s) (Snijders, van Rooij, et al., ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sex‐specific responses to territorial intrusions in a communication network: Evidence from radio‐tagged great tits

Snijders

Oers

Naguib

2017

Ecology and Evolution

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Signals play a key role in the ecology and evolution of animal populations, influencing processes such as sexual selection and conflict resolution. In many species, sexually selected signals have a dual function: attracting mates and repelling rivals. Yet, to what extent males and females under natural conditions differentially respond to such signals remains poorly understood, due to a lack of field studies that simultaneously track both sexes. Using a novel spatial tracking system, we tested whether or not the spatial behavior of male and female great tits (Parus major) changes in relation to the vocal response of a territorial male neighbor to an intruder. We tracked the spatial behavior of male and female great tits (N = 44), 1 hr before and 1 hr after simulating territory intrusions, employing automatized Encounternet radio‐tracking technology. We recorded the spatial and vocal response of the challenged males and quantified attraction and repulsion of neighboring males and females to the intrusion site. We additionally quantified the direct proximity network of the challenged male. The strength of a male's vocal response to an intruder induced sex‐dependent movements in the neighborhood, via female attraction and male repulsion. Stronger vocal responders were older and in better body condition. The proximity networks of the male vocal responders, including the number of sex‐dependent connections and average time spent with connections, however, did not change directly following the intrusion. The effects on neighbor movements suggest that the strength of a male's vocal response can provide relevant social information to both the males and the females in the neighborhood, resulting in both sexes adjusting their spatial behavior in contrasting ways, while the social proximity network remained stable. This study underlines the importance of “silent” eavesdroppers within communication networks for studying the dual functioning and evolution of sexually selected signals.

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“…The direction of among-individual differences in exploration between the sexes can vary, and it has been postulated that sexual selection may play a role in encouraging these differences (reviewed in Schuett et al 2010). Exploratory behavior has been correlated with spatial response to territory intrusion, with fast explorers spending more time in proximity to the intruder in great tits (Snijders et al 2015). In the Seychelles warbler, attack frequencies toward a simulated predator were higher in males, than in females (Veen et al 2000).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploration is dependent on reproductive state, not social state, in a cooperatively breeding bird

Edwards

Dugdale

Richardson

et al. 2016

BEHECO

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Lay SummaryAn individual’s circumstances or properties—also known as state—maybe a mechanism encouraging behavioral differences among individuals. We investigated whether exploration was associated with social state or reproductive state (i.e., insect abundance at year of birth) in a wild cooperative breeder. We found fast novel object exploration was associated with young individuals born into years of high insect abundance (i.e., low future reproductive state), suggesting this behavior is reproductive state-dependent.

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Dawn song predicts behaviour during territory conflicts in personality-typed great tits

Cited by 23 publications

References 57 publications

Male great tits assort by personality during the breeding season

Male great tits assort by personality during the breeding season

Sex‐specific responses to territorial intrusions in a communication network: Evidence from radio‐tagged great tits

Exploration is dependent on reproductive state, not social state, in a cooperatively breeding bird

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