Effects of Eavesdropping on Subsequent Signalling Behaviours in Male Canaries

Abstract

Signalling interactions could provide information for an observing third party. This behaviour has been labelled as eavesdropping. Studies on eavesdropping in birds have concerned only few species and have mainly been conducted in the wild. Our experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of eavesdropping on subsequent interactions in male canaries in a controlled laboratory context. The experiment had two stages: a presentation stage and a test stage. During the presentation stage, subjects heard three different interaction types: an alternating interaction, an overlapping interaction or two song sequences presented separately one after the other, i.e. without interaction. Then during the test stage, subjects were allowed to listen to the songs previously heard separately. We noted calls emitted by subjects during the two stages. During the presentation stage, responses of male canaries did not differ according to the type of interaction they could hear. During the test stage, we found a clear effect of the song status on the calls emitted by subjects. They emitted less calls during the songs of the winner than during all other songs. Surprisingly, subjects also produced intermediate responses by emitting fewer calls during the second song previously heard during the presentation phase, and during the song of the looser when compared to the three other songs. Our results show that male canaries obtain information on the relative threat from an overlapping interaction whereas an alternating interaction does not seem to provide any kind of relative information on singers’ status. In following encounters, the higher the potential threat of a singer was, the less the subjects emitted calls, probably to avoid the more serious rival. This inhibiting effect is discussed.

Audience effects and aggressive priming in agonistic behaviour of male zebrafish, Danio rerio

“…These differential gains for winners and losses for losers are expected to be amplified when interacting in front of an audience, since not only the opponent but also the bystanders will gain information on the competitive ability of the interacting individuals (Peake & Mcgregor, 2004). The increasing number of studies that have reported that bystanders can eavesdrop on others' agonistic interactions and use the gathered information in subsequent interactions with the observed individuals (Amy & Leboucher, 2009;Earley & Dugatkin, 2002;McGregor, Peake, & Lampe, 2001;Oliveira, McGregor, & Latruffe, 1998;Peake, Terry, McGregor, & Dabelsteen, 2001) reinforce the idea that losing in front of conspecifics might come at a higher price. This asymmetry between winner and loser effects is also present in zebrafish (Oliveira et al, 2011) and hence may help to explain the observed decrease in overt aggression when interacting in the presence of the audience.…”

Social influences on song learning

“…Here, the timing of song learning is important: adult males only tolerate immature males within their territory, which suggests that opportunities for direct interactions may exist during early learning, while limited to eavesdropping later on [32]. In a laboratory setting, canaries that overheard overlapping songs between two males were less likely to call to the interrupting "winner" male at a later time [33]. This could mean that they perceive and remember dominance in singing interactions.…”

“…Suppose that bird A displaces bird B, but bird B displaces bird C: will the juvenile observer infer a linear hierarchy from those pairwise interactions [74], and use this information to alter its developing song? Such an inference could affect moment-to-moment behavior (e.g., deciding which virtual bird to approach or exchange calls with [33]) as well as developmental trajectories related to tutor choice and song convergence or divergence within the peer group.…”

Sizing‐up the Competition: Factors Modulating Male Display Behavior During Mate Competition

“…), territory ownership (López & Martín ), or fighting ability (McGregor et al. ; Earley & Dugatkin ; Amy & Leboucher ; Sprau et al. ).…”