Female signal jamming in a socially monogamous brood parasite

Anderson, H. Luke; Perkes, Ammon; Gottfried, Julian S.; Davies, Hayden B.; White, David J.; Schmidt, Marc F.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.10.011

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 97 publications

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“…These behaviors, -14 -arranged by increasing frequency, were 1) leg adjustment (26 times, 3%), 2) gaze shift (38 times, 5%) 3) wingstrokes (rapid, unilateral wing motion, 41 times, 5%) 4) rapid feather depressions (47 times, 6%), 5) partial-CSD (55 times, 7%) and 6) full-CSD (280 times, 37%). Interestingly, although females often respond to male song with precisely timed chatter calls in large aviaries (H. L. Anderson et al, 2021), we did not observe vocal call responses in our recording boxes. The precise criterion used for classifying each of these behaviors is described in the methods section with examples of each behavior available as supplemental videos.…”

Section: Song Evokes Other Postural Responses 31 Song Presentation Evokes a Suite Of Non-csd Postural Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 59%

“…Interestingly, in social contexts female cowbirds often produce loud, broadband "chatter" vocalizations in response to male song that effectively jam the introductory notes. Our recent work shows that these vocalizations are able to prevent females from going into posture (H. L. Anderson et al, 2021), and suggest this might be an effective strategy females have evolved for maintaining reproductive autonomy.…”

Section: Commitment To Produce a Csd Occurs Early In The Songmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…For example, female ringdoves self-stimulate using cooing vocalizations, effectively lowering their response threshold to male sexual stimulus and promoting copulation (Cheng, 1992). Female cowbirds on the other hand appear to use chatter vocalizations to obstruct song and prevent CSD (Anderson et al, 2021) by reducing the strength of the stimulus, rather than changing the response threshold. In both cases, females alter their own sensitivity via active behavioral responses, providing a level of behavioral control on an otherwise autonomic, involuntary response.…”

Section: A Model For Achieving Sexual Autonomy By Modulating Response Thresholdmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation in female songbird state determines signal strength needed to evoke copulation

Perkes

Pfrommer

Daniilidis

et al. 2021

Preprint

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It is the female response to male signals that determines courtship success. In most songbirds, females control reproduction via the copulation solicitation display (CSD), an innate, stereotyped posture produced in direct response to male displays. Because CSD can be elicited in the absence of males by the presentation of recorded song, CSD production enables investigations into the effects of underlying signal features and behavioral state on female mating preferences. Using computer vision to quantify CSD trajectory in female brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater), we show that both song quality and a female's internal state predict CSD production, as well as the onset latency and duration of the display. We also show that CSD can be produced in a graded fashion based on both signal strength and internal state. These results emphasize the importance of underlying receiver state in determining behavioral responses and suggest that female responsiveness acts in conjunction with male signal strength to determine the efficacy of male courtship.

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Section: Song Evokes Other Postural Responses 31 Song Presentation Evokes a Suite Of Non-csd Postural Behaviorsmentioning

confidence: 59%

Section: Commitment To Produce a Csd Occurs Early In The Songmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: A Model For Achieving Sexual Autonomy By Modulating Response Thresholdmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Variation in female songbird state determines signal strength needed to evoke copulation

Perkes

Pfrommer

Daniilidis

et al. 2021

Preprint

Self Cite

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“…Birds were maintained in similar conditions for all experiments (although specific flock distribution and bird densities vary, see The methods for gathering behavioral data from these aviaries have been described 320 previously 43,44 . In brief, expert observers identified birds using distinct colored leg bands, and 321 recorded the actor, receiver, and the behavior type for a variety of vocal and non-vocal behaviors, which were automatically stored with timestamps using speech-to-text software.…”

Section: Subjects and Housingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cohesion in male singing behavior predicts group reproductive output in a social songbird

Perkes

Schmidt

Anderson

et al. 2021

Preprint

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SummaryAll social groups require organization to function optimally. Group organization is often shaped by social ‘rules’, which function to manage conflict, discourage cheating, or promote cooperation1–5. If social rules promote effective social living, then the ability to learn and follow these rules may be expected to influence individual and group-level fitness. However, such links can rarely be tested, due to the complexity of the factors mediating social systems and the difficulty of gathering data across multiple groups. Songbirds offer an opportunity to investigate the link between social rules and reproductive output because most of their social interactions are mediated by song, a well-studied and readily quantifiable behavior6,7. Using observations from 19 groups of brown-headed cowbirds (Molothrus ater) studied across 15 years, we find evidence for a previously undocumented social rule: cohesive group transitions between dominance- and courtship-related singing. Comparing across groups, the degree of cohesion in male singing behavior predicts the reproductive output of their group. Experimental manipulation of group structure via the introduction of juvenile males to captive flocks reduced group cohesion and adult male reproductive success. Taken together, these results demonstrate that cohesion in group behavioral states can affect both individual and group-level reproductive success, suggesting that selection can act not only on individual-level traits, but also on an individual’s ability and opportunity to participate effectively in organized social interactions. Social cohesion could therefore be an unappreciated force affecting social evolution in many diverse systems.

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“…singing through both observational or experimental studies (Anderson et al, 2020;Hall, 2004). There is also an increasing consensus that coordinated singing may serve various functions in different species or multiple functions within one single species (Grafe & Bitz, 2004;Hall, 2004;Odom et al, 2017).…”

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confidence: 99%

Adult male–female social bond advertising: The primary function of coordinated singing intensity in a small ape

Fan

2021

American J Primatol

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Adult male and female coordinated singing occur in diverse animal taxa. Adult male-female social bond advertising and strengthening have been proposed as two important functional hypotheses of coordinated singing. Here we studied these two functions in four groups of cao vit gibbon (Nomascus nasutus), a small ape that lives in polygynous family groups and adult members coordinated their sex-specific songs to produce complex duets or trios (three members sing together), using 6-year field behavioral data. In this study, we used the number of successful great call sequences per bout or per minute, and latency period from start of the adult male call to the first successful great call sequence to represent singing intensity. We used the proportion of proximity, behavioral synchronization, and grooming between adult male and female to represent bond strength. We used linear mixed-effects model to investigate the correlation between singing intensity and adult male-female social bond strength. We found a negative correlation between all three bond strength indicators and female latency period (N = 209), and a positive correlation between the number of successful great call sequences per bout (N = 253) and per minute (N = 254) and proximity. We used paired Wilcoxon signed-rank test to investigate if adult gibbons increase bond strength after singing. We found proximity (hourly level: N = 45; daily level: N = 54), behavioral synchronization (hourly level: N = 57; daily level: N = 49), and grooming (daily level: N = 34) in most of the groups did not increase significantly after singing in an hourly or daily level. Together, these results indicate that cao vit gibbon coordinated singing serves primarily in adult male-female social bond advertising and distinct singing intensity indicators advertise different information on adult male-female social bond strength.

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Female signal jamming in a socially monogamous brood parasite

Cited by 6 publications

References 97 publications

Variation in female songbird state determines signal strength needed to evoke copulation

Variation in female songbird state determines signal strength needed to evoke copulation

Cohesion in male singing behavior predicts group reproductive output in a social songbird

Adult male–female social bond advertising: The primary function of coordinated singing intensity in a small ape

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