GEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS OF SONG SIMILARITY IN THE DICKCISSEL (<i>SPIZA AMERICANA</i>)

Schook, Derek M.; Collins, Michael D.; Jensen, William E.; Williams, Perry J.; Bader, Nicholas E.; Parker, Timothy

doi:10.1525/auk.2008.07164

Cited by 8 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Second, it is reasonable to hypothesize that conformers to the local vocal culture might respond differently to local and foreign songs than those singing foreign songs themselves. Our qualitative method of classifying song similarity is simple and highly repeatable in dickcissels (Schook et al., ). More than 75% of birds we evaluated met this high standard of dialect conformity within their neighborhood.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The closest location of a foreign song recording to our study site was 22 km, and the mean distance was 158 km. At this distance, songs show many dramatic differences (Schook et al., ) (Figure ). We recorded neighbor songs from males with territories adjacent to focal playback males.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dickcissels ( Spiza americana ) are songbirds in which individuals produce a single song type and conform to striking song dialects that change over the scale of a few km (Schook et al., ). They are common breeders on the Great Plains of North America, and only males regularly sing and appear to actively defend territories (Temple, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Circumstantial evidence strongly suggests that male dickcissels delay song learning until they arrive at their first adult territory after returning from wintering in northern South America (Schook et al, 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Male territorial aggression does not drive conformity to local vocal culture in a passerine bird

et al. 2017

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In many songbird species, young individuals learn songs from neighbors and then settle nearby, thus creating neighborhoods of conformity to local vocal culture. In some species, individuals appear to postpone song learning until after dispersal, possibly to facilitate conformity to local dialects. Despite decades of study, we still lack a consensus regarding the selective pressures driving this delayed song learning. Two common hypothetical benefits to conformity, and thus delayed song learning, are rooted in territorial interactions; individuals preferentially produce local song either to avoid detection as new arrivals (deceptive mimicry) or to be more effectively recognized as conspecific territory holders. The dickcissel (Spiza americana) is an ideal species in which to study these hypotheses. Males of this species appear to delay song learning until they arrive at their first adult territory, each individual sings a single song type, and conformity to the local song culture is high. Using playback, we contradicted both of the territorial hypotheses described above; male dickcissels did not respond differentially to local vs foreign song playback treatment. We are confident in this lack of difference because dickcissels clearly responded less strongly to a third treatment, neighbor song, than to the other two treatments, demonstrating sufficient power in our experimental design (and providing the first evidence of the dear‐enemy effect in dickcissels). Our results raise the question of why dickcissels respond equally aggressively to both local and foreign songs when other bird species often show reduced aggression toward foreign song. If reduced aggression to foreign song is not ubiquitous in species that achieve conformity through delayed learning, then selection from aggressive territorial interaction seems unlikely to be a general explanation for such delayed learning. Reduced aggression in response to foreign songs in other species may be due to reduced exposure to the stimulus of foreign song or to different cost‐benefit trade‐offs when responding to songs that deviate from the local average.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Male territorial aggression does not drive conformity to local vocal culture in a passerine bird

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“…4 E-mail: yortega@fs.fed.us territory neighbors on the breeding grounds (Beecher and Brenowitz 2005). Moreover, for many species including Chipping Sparrows, yearling males often match the song of older birds, which arrive on the breeding grounds first already possessing crystallized songs (Payne et al 1988, Liu and Nottebohm 2007, Schook et al 2008. Hence, the prevalence of older birds may constrain the local diversity of song types.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Invasive plant erodes local song diversity in a migratory passerine

Ortega¹,

Benson²,

Greene³

2014

Ecology

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Exotic plant invasions threaten ecosystems globally, but we still know little about the specific consequences for animals. Invasive plants can alter the quality of breeding habitat for songbirds, thereby impacting important demographic traits such as dispersal, philopatry, and age structure. These demographic effects may in turn alter song-learning conditions to affect song structure and diversity. We studied Chipping Sparrows (Spizella passerina) breeding in six savannas that were either dominated by native vegetation or invaded by spotted knapweed (Centaurea stoebe), an exotic forb known to diminish food resources and reproductive success. Here, we report that the prevalence of older birds was relatively low in knapweed-invaded habitat, where recruitment of yearlings compensated for diminished site fidelity to sustain territory abundance. In both habitat types, yearling males tended to adopt songs similar to their neighbors and match the songs of older birds rather than introducing new song types, a pattern seen in many songbird species. As a consequence, in invaded habitat where age structure was skewed away from older birds serving as potential song models, yearlings converged on fewer song types. Similarity of songs among individuals was significantly higher and the overall number of song types averaged nearly 20% lower in invaded relative to native habitat. Degradation of habitat quality generally impacts site fidelity and age ratios in migratory songbirds and hence may commonly alter song-learning conditions. Associated shifts in song attributes known to influence reproductive success could in turn enforce demographic declines driven by habitat degradation. Local song structure may serve as an important indicator of habitat quality and population status for songbirds.

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Integrating Biophony into Biodiversity Measurement and Assessment

Napoletano

2017

Ecoacoustics

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GEOGRAPHIC PATTERNS OF SONG SIMILARITY IN THE DICKCISSEL (SPIZA AMERICANA)

Cited by 8 publications

References 30 publications

Male territorial aggression does not drive conformity to local vocal culture in a passerine bird

Male territorial aggression does not drive conformity to local vocal culture in a passerine bird

Invasive plant erodes local song diversity in a migratory passerine

Integrating Biophony into Biodiversity Measurement and Assessment

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