Number of callers may affect the response to conspecific mobbing calls in great tits (Parus major)

Dutour, Mylène; Kalb, Nadine; Salis, Ambre; Randler, Christoph

doi:10.1007/s00265-021-02969-7

Cited by 18 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 54 publications

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“…Second, we also controlled for the possibility that social context may influence the willingness of tits to join in mobbing. Since flock size has been suggested to increase the intensity of mobbing 14 , 15 , we recorded the number of Japanese tits observed around 15-m of the shrike specimen during 90-s of playback and included this as a covariate in the statistical models. Supporting the prediction, tits more readily approached within 2-m of the shrike when flock size was larger (generalized linear mixed model: χ 2 = 16.06, df = 1, P < 0.0001).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence for core-Merge in the vocal communication system of a wild passerine

Suzuki

Matsumoto

2022

Nat Commun

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One of the cognitive capacities underlying language is core-Merge, which allows senders to combine two words into a sequence and receivers to recognize it as a single unit. Recent field studies suggest intriguing parallels in non-human animals, e.g., Japanese tits (Parus minor) combine two meaning-bearing calls into a sequence when prompting antipredator displays in other individuals. However, whether such examples represent core-Merge remains unclear; receivers may perceive a two-call sequence as two individual calls that are arbitrarily produced in close time proximity, not as a single unit. If an animal species has evolved core-Merge, its receivers should treat a two-call sequence produced by a single individual differently from the same two calls produced by two individuals with the same timing. Here, we show that Japanese tit receivers exhibit antipredator displays when perceiving two-call sequences broadcast from a single source, but not from two sources, providing evidence for core-Merge in animals.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Experimental evidence for core-Merge in the vocal communication system of a wild passerine

Suzuki

Matsumoto

2022

Nat Commun

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“…If the great tit showed alarm behaviour or move towards the loudspeaker during this pre‐playback period, the test was abandoned. To determine the tits’ responses to different treatments, we recorded the two following behavioural variables during 1 min of playbacks: (1) approaching the loudspeaker: we recorded whether birds approached within 15 m of the loudspeaker during the playback and (2) number of mobbing vocalizations: we counted the number of calls that focal birds produced the during the playback (Dutour, Kalb, et al, 2021). We set the approach distance to 15 m since this approach distance was previously found to be a relevant measure of mobbing propensity in great tits (see Dutour et al, 2017 for more details).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

How great tits respond to urgency‐based information in allopatric Southern house wren mobbing calls

2022

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Many species of birds use alarm calls to signal information about predators, including the level of threat. Previous playback experiments suggest that the urgency response towards heterospecific calls is phylogenetically conserved, notably in the Paridae family. Using playback experiments conducted on European great tits (Parus major), we tested whether this species perceives information about urgency in mobbing calls produced by an allopatric non‐Paridae species, the Southern house wren (Troglodytes aedon bonariae), by broadcasting calls with high‐calling rate (high threat) and calls with low‐calling rate (low threat). We found that great tits tend to approach the loudspeaker during playbacks of calls with high‐calling rate more often than during playbacks of calls with low‐calling rate. Female great tits gave more calls during playbacks of calls with high‐calling rate than during playbacks of calls with low‐calling rate, whereas there was no significant difference in the number of calls given by males between playbacks of calls with high‐ and low‐calling rates. Thus, our results suggested that great tits perceived the urgency message encoded in calls given by an allopatric non‐Paridae species.

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“…Based on the current literature, the duty cycle is probably one major coding strategy for increased risk in Parids (Landsborough et al 2020, Salis et al 2022), and Parids modify their response to unknown non-Parids calls with different duty cycles (Dutour et al 2022). Yet, great tits can also recognize caller identity, as they increased their mobbing response toward soundtracks made with calls of several individuals compared to soundtracks with only one individual calling (Dutour et al 2021). In this latter experiment, the duty cycles of the different treatments were strictly equal.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, we performed a complementary subset of experiments (n = 22 birds tested, 9 crested tits and 13 coal tits) to verify that birds do not follow the observer between successive spots. For this purpose, we followed the same methodology than the one used by Salis et al on great tits (2022). More specifically, both observers were equipped with the acoustic material and binoculars, and after each test, while one observer was launching the playback experiments on a subsequent location, the other was following the birds from the previous location.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Acoustic cues and season affect mobbing responses in a bird community

Salis

Lena

Lengagne

2022

Preprint

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Heterospecific communication is common for birds when mobbing a predator. However, joining the mob should depend on the number of callers already enrolled, as larger mobs imply lower individual risks for the newcomer. In addition, some community informant species seem more reliable regarding the information transferred in mobbing calls. Birds should therefore rely on both the number of callers and the species identity of the caller(s) when mobbing. Given the large differences in social organization and environment throughout the year in passerine communities, the response to acoustic cues could be impacted by the season. In the present study, we tested the potential interaction between the number of callers, the species identity of the caller (i.e., coal tit or crested tit), and the season on birds mobbing response using a factorial playback experiment. Overall, we found that soundtracks with three callers triggered more mobbing than soundtracks with one caller and that soundtracks with coal tits calls triggered more mobbing than soundtracks with crested tits calls. However, this effect interacted with the season: in spring, only soundtracks with three coal tits triggered a mobbing response. We therefore confirm the hypothesis that birds consider both the species and the number of callers when joining a mobbing chorus. Moreover, our study demonstrates how seasonal context interacts with acoustic cues and illustrates the dynamic properties of heterospecific communication.

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Number of callers may affect the response to conspecific mobbing calls in great tits (Parus major)

Cited by 18 publications

References 54 publications

Experimental evidence for core-Merge in the vocal communication system of a wild passerine

Experimental evidence for core-Merge in the vocal communication system of a wild passerine

How great tits respond to urgency‐based information in allopatric Southern house wren mobbing calls

Acoustic cues and season affect mobbing responses in a bird community

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