Primate Habitat Acoustics

Brown, Charles H.; Waser, Peter M.

doi:10.1007/978-3-319-59478-1_4

Cited by 14 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…Mobbing calls are structured to facilitate localisation of the caller [Marler, 1955], further supporting this function in ouah calls. Calls that are used in solitary situations are expected to show more stereotypical acoustic structures, as this counteracts attenuation in forest habitats [Mitani and Stuht, 1998;Brown and Waser, 2017]. The similarly structured chuck call showed high intra-call variability in cluster analysis.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Animal vocalisations that have fixed structures are less susceptible to signal degradation when transmitted through dense, low-visibility habitats, such as forests [Waser and Brown, 1986;Marler and Mitani, 1988;Mitani and Stuht, 1998;Brown and Waser, 2017]. In taxa where vocal communication occurs without visual contact, as is often the case with solitary-living, nocturnal primates, vocal repertoires are expected to consist of highly stereotypical calls [Zimmermann, 1990;Ramanankirahina et al, 2016].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Sahamalaza Sportive Lemur, Lepilemur sahamalaza, Vocal Communication: Call Use, Context and Gradation

Mandl¹,

Schwitzer²,

Holderied³

2019

IJFP

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Stereotypical vocalisations can facilitate long-distance communication in dense and, thus, sound-degrading forest habitats. Despite this, primate vocal repertoires often also include gradations between different call types that are used in social interactions. Because many nocturnal primates show a solitary social structure, it has been difficult to assess the role vocalisations play in mediating their social encounters. Here we aim to expand on the call types of Sahamalaza sportive lemurs, Lepilemur sahamalaza, as well as investigate their variability and use in social contexts. Through long-term behavioural observations with concurrent recording of vocalisations of known and unknown individuals between 2015 and 2016, we described three previously unrecorded calls and expanded the vocal repertoire to 12 different call types that were used in both targeted social and broadcast solitary contexts. Linear discriminant function and cluster analysis supported initial observations that vocalisations within call types were variable and that at least two call types can be classified as "graded," contrary to expectations. Despite variations in call-context connections, no clear patterns of call use could be established. However, measurable differences in vocal behaviour between the seasons and the sexes indicate that calling is used in a reproductive context, similar to other nocturnal and diurnal primates.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sahamalaza Sportive Lemur, Lepilemur sahamalaza, Vocal Communication: Call Use, Context and Gradation

Mandl¹,

Schwitzer²,

Holderied³

2019

IJFP

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“…Ecologically, callers may exploit ideal sound transmission conditions. The Acoustic Adaptation Hypothesis predicts that animals may adjust their vocal signals to maximize signal transmission and minimize sound degradation, specifically within each environment in which calls occur (Waser & Waser, 1977;Ey & Fischer, 2009;Brown & Waser, 2017). Environmental metrics, such as temperature gradients, humidity and wind, vary with time of day, and can degrade signals, resulting in structural changes to the primary sound (Waser & Brown, 1984).…”

Section: Ecological Factorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Vocal communication in wild chimpanzees: a call rate study

Crunchant

Stewart

Piel

2021

PeerJ

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Background Patterns of vocal communication have implications for species conservation: a change in calling behaviour can, for instance, reflect a disturbed habitat. More importantly, call rate is a parameter that allows conservation planners to convert call density into animal density, when detecting calls with a passive acoustic monitoring system (PAM). Methods We investigated chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes schweinfurthii) call rate during the late dry season in the Issa Valley, western Tanzania by conducting focal follows. We examined the socio-ecological factors that influence call production rate of savanna woodland chimpanzees. Results We found that sex, proportion of time spent in a vegetation type, proportion of time spent travelling, time of the day, party size and swollen parous female presence had a significant effect on the call rate. Call rate differed among the different demographic classes with subadult and adult males vocalising twice as often as the subadult and adult females and three times as often as the juveniles. Applications The use of PAM and recent statistical developments to estimate animal density is promising but relies on our knowing individual call rate, often not available for many species. With the improvement in automatic call detection, we anticipate that PAM will increasingly be broadly applied to primates but also across taxa, for conservation.

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“…Thus, the ecological selection for beak size affects acoustic divergence between different Darwin finch morphs reinforced by assortative mating. Further, acoustic adaptation to sound transmission characteristics of the environment, or ambient noise, has been shown to affect the structure of vocalizations (acoustic adaptation hypothesis; Brown & Waser, 2017) in insects, birds, anurans, and mammals (McNett & Cocroft, 2008; for review, see Boncoraglio & Saino, 2007, Ey & Fischer, 2009). For example, bird vocalizations have a lower maximum frequency in closed versus open habitats (Boncoraglio & Saino, 2007; Ey & Fischer, 2009).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Third, we tested whether ecology drives acoustic divergence to optimize transmission using forest type as a proxy of ecology. According to the literature in mammals, we predicted that species living in humid forest (closed habitats) have calls with a longer duration, more narrow band, and lower fundamental frequency than species living in dry forest (more open habitats; e.g., Brown & Waser, 2017; Ey & Fischer, 2009). Fourth, we investigated whether acoustic divergence may just reflect genetic drift.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evolutionary significance of the variation in acoustic communication of a cryptic nocturnal primate radiation (Microcebus spp.)

Hasiniaina

Radespiel

Kessler

et al. 2020

Ecology and Evolution

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Acoustic phenotypic variation is of major importance for speciation and the evolution of species diversity. Whereas selective and stochastic forces shaping the acoustic divergence of signaling systems are well studied in insects, frogs, and birds, knowledge on the processes driving acoustic phenotypic evolution in mammals is limited. We quantified the acoustic variation of a call type exchanged during agonistic encounters across eight distinct species of the smallest‐bodied nocturnal primate radiation, the Malagasy mouse lemurs. The species live in two different habitats (dry forest vs. humid forest), differ in geographic distance to each other, and belong to four distinct phylogenetic clades within the genus. Genetically defined species were discriminated reliably on the phenotypic level based on their acoustic distinctiveness in a discriminant function analysis. Acoustic variation was explained by genetic distance, whereas differences in morphology, forest type, or geographic distance had no effect. The strong impact of genetics was supported by a correlation between acoustic and genetic distance and the high agreement in branching pattern between the acoustic and molecular phylogenetic trees. In sum, stochastic factors such as genetic drift best explained acoustic diversification in a social communication call of mouse lemurs.

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Primate Habitat Acoustics

Cited by 14 publications

References 61 publications

Sahamalaza Sportive Lemur, Lepilemur sahamalaza, Vocal Communication: Call Use, Context and Gradation

Sahamalaza Sportive Lemur, Lepilemur sahamalaza, Vocal Communication: Call Use, Context and Gradation

Vocal communication in wild chimpanzees: a call rate study

Evolutionary significance of the variation in acoustic communication of a cryptic nocturnal primate radiation (Microcebus spp.)

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