Estimating the complexity of bird song by using capture-recapture approaches from community ecology

Garamszegi, László Zsolt; Balsby, Thorsten J. S.; Bell, Ben D.; Borowiec, Marta; Byers, Bruce E.; Draganoiu, Tudor Ion; Eens, Marcel; Forstmeier, Wolfgang; Galeotti, Paolo; Gil, Diego; Gorissen, Leen; Hansen, P.; Lampe, Helene M.; Leitner, Stefan; Lontkowski, J.; Nagle, Laurent; Nemeth, Erwin; Pinxten, Rianne; Rossi, Jean-Marc; Saino, Nicola; Tanvez, Aurélie; Titus, Russell C.; Török, János; Duyse, Els Van; Møller, Anders Pape

doi:10.1007/s00265-004-0866-6

Cited by 42 publications

(54 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…A much more limited number of songs is also sufficient for good repertoire estimates in other species, even when they have much more complex repertoires (Kipper et al 2006;Hesler et al 2010;Mamede and Mota 2012;Petrusková et al 2016). Estimating repertoire size is not a trivial matter, and recently, new approaches have been discussed for this (Garamszegi et al 2004;Peshek and Blumstein 2011;Kershenbaum et al 2015). Chiffchaffs could be characterized as singing with an eventual varied, noncyclic singing style probably with heterogeneous song type selection (dominant and rare song types) similar to Rufous-and-white Wrens (Harris et al 2016).…”

Section: Repertoire Size and Song Organization In The Chiffchaffmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Chiffchaffs could be characterized as singing with an eventual varied, noncyclic singing style probably with heterogeneous song type selection (dominant and rare song types) similar to Rufous-and-white Wrens (Harris et al 2016). As a result, capture-recapture (Garamszegi et al 2004) or coupon collector (Kershenbaum et al 2015) methods could be appropriate to estimate their repertoire size. According to another study, Chiffchaffs could be characterized as singing standardized clusters of syllables with eventual variety (Botero et al 2008).…”

Section: Repertoire Size and Song Organization In The Chiffchaffmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Cues to individual identity in songs of songbirds: testing general song characteristics in Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita

2017

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Individual variation in vocalizations has been widely studied among different animal taxa, and it is commonly reported that vocalizations could be potentially used to monitor individuals in many species. Songbirds represent a challenging group of animals for the study of signalling of individual identity. They are highly vocal, but their songs are complex and can change over time. In this study, we tested whether general song characteristics, which are independent of song type, can be used to discriminate and consistently identify Chiffchaff males within and between days and between years. There was individual variation in songs of recorded Chiffchaffs, and it was possible to easily discriminate between males at any one point in time. However, the level of re-identification of males across days and years was low. For effective identification it was necessary to compare songs of a single song type. However, Chiffchaffs haphazardly switch among song types, sometimes singing the same song type for a long time, making it difficult to collect equivalent song types or to sample the birds' full repertoires. For example, 5-min recordings of males taken in different years did not contain equivalent song types, leading to low identification success. Although we were not successful in the re-identification of males based on general song characteristics, we discuss methods of acoustic identification which are not dependent on song repertoire content and are potentially valuable tools for the study of species such as the Chiffchaff.

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Section: Repertoire Size and Song Organization In The Chiffchaffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Repertoire Size and Song Organization In The Chiffchaffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cues to individual identity in songs of songbirds: testing general song characteristics in Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita

2017

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“…Based on the number of solo song types sung by each White-eared Ground-sparrow male, this species has a small repertoire, according to the classification proposed by Garamszegi et al (2005). However, one individual of the Canyon Towhee showed a repertoire of five song types (Marler and Isaac 1960), and ten individuals of the Rustycrowned Ground-sparrow showed repertoires that varied from four to ten song types (Sandoval 2014;, indicating that small solo song repertoires may be the rule for the genus Melozone.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vocal behaviour of White-eared Ground-sparrows (Melozone leucotis) during the breeding season: repertoires, diel variation, behavioural contexts, and individual distinctiveness

2015

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There are relatively few quantitative descriptive studies of the vocalisations and vocal behaviour of tropical bird species, in spite of the tropic's rich avian biodiversity and the extensive variety of vocalisations produced by tropical birds. This lack of information inhibits our understanding of tropical animals, including our ability to perform comparative analyses on vocal behaviours from an evolutionary perspective. In this study, we present the first quantitative description of the vocal repertoire and daily vocal activity of White-eared Ground-sparrows (Melozone leucotis), using focal and autonomous recordings collected during two consecutive breeding seasons in Costa Rica. We classified vocalisations into categories based on their visual appearance on sound spectrograms to create a library of vocalisations for this species. We found that White-eared Ground-sparrows produce three main categories of vocalisations: solo songs, calls, and duets. Solo songs were produced only by males. Each male sang a repertoire of solo song types, which all shared the same general structure with short introductory notes, a frequency-modulated middle section, and a terminal trill. Both sexes produce calls and coordinated vocal duets. We quantified patterns of diel variation in each category of vocalisation, and found that the Ground-sparrows produced all three vocalisations at higher output at dawn (between 0500 and 0600 hours) compared to the rest of the day. This study allowed us to conduct the first comparisons of vocalisations between White-eared Groundsparrows and North American species in the genus Melozone, and revealed both similarities and differences between the species groups. Our investigation also showed that vocalisations related to communication within pairs and to territory defence (calls and duets) exhibited lower levels of individual distinctiveness than vocalisations related mainly to female attraction (male solo songs). Our observations suggest that each of the three types of vocalisations have multiple functions in White-eared Ground-sparrows, revealing diverse communication functions with a small vocal repertoire in this tropical songbird. ZusammenfassungGesangsverhalten von Weißohrammern (Melozone leucotis) während der Brutzeit: Repertoires, Tagesvariation, Verhaltenskontext und individuelle Charakteristik Trotz des Vogelartenreichtums der Tropen und der großen Vielfalt an Lautäußerungen tropischer Vögel, gibt es verhältnismäßig wenige quantitativ-beschreibende Studien zu Vokalisation und Gesangsverhalten tropischer Vogelarten. Dieser Mangel an Informationen vermindert unser Verständnis tropischer Vögel, einschließlich der Fähigkeit, vergleichende Analysen zum Gesangsverhalten aus Sicht der Evolution durchzuführen. In dieser Studie präsentieren wir Communicated by C. G. Guglielmo. Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (

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“…1993). Although repertoire size is often estimated from incomplete samples, little is known about the robustness and reliability of the methods involved (but see Derrickson 1987; Garamszegi et al. 2005; Kroodsma 1982).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How Reliable are the Methods for Estimating Repertoire Size?

et al. 2008

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Quantifying signal repertoire size is a critical first step towards understanding the evolution of signal complexity. However, counting signal types can be so complicated and time consuming when repertoire size is large, that this trait is often estimated rather than measured directly. We studied how three common methods for repertoire size quantification (i.e., simple enumeration, curve-fitting and capture-recapture analysis) are affected by sample size and presentation style using simulated repertoires of known sizes. As expected, estimation error decreased with increasing sample size and varied among presentation styles. More surprisingly, for all but one of the presentation styles studied, curve-fitting and capture-recapture analysis yielded errors of similar or greater magnitude than the errors researchers would make by simply assuming that the number of types in an incomplete sample is the true repertoire size. Our results also indicate that studies based on incomplete samples are likely to yield incorrect ranking of individuals and spurious correlations with other parameters regardless of the technique of choice. Finally, we argue that biological receivers face similar difficulties in quantifying repertoire size than human observers and we explore some of the biological implications of this hypothesis.

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Estimating the complexity of bird song by using capture-recapture approaches from community ecology

Cited by 42 publications

References 55 publications

Cues to individual identity in songs of songbirds: testing general song characteristics in Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita

Cues to individual identity in songs of songbirds: testing general song characteristics in Chiffchaffs Phylloscopus collybita

Vocal behaviour of White-eared Ground-sparrows (Melozone leucotis) during the breeding season: repertoires, diel variation, behavioural contexts, and individual distinctiveness

How Reliable are the Methods for Estimating Repertoire Size?

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