Use of the song repertoire in intersexual and intrasexual contexts by male red-winged blackbirds

Searcy, William A.; Yasukawa, Ken

doi:10.1007/bf00168455

Cited by 72 publications

(24 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…In some bird species, complex male songs attract females (for a review, see Catchpole & Slater, 1995). There is evidence that male song complexity is under the discriminative stimulus control of a receptive female (Searcy & Yasukawa, 1990). That explicit reinforcement may play a role in such song complexity is suggested by the Manabe et al (1997) study, described above.…”

Section: Related Areasmentioning

confidence: 86%

Operant variability: Evidence, functions, and theory

Neuringer

2002

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

220

217

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Although responses are sometimes easy to predict, at other times responding seems highly variable, unpredictable, or even random. The inability to predict is generally attributed to ignorance of controlling variables, but this article is a review of research showing that the highest levels of behavioral variability may result from identifiable reinforcers contingent on such variability. That is, variability is an operant. Discriminative stimuli and reinforcers control it, resulting in low or high variability, depending on the contingencies. Schedule-of-reinforcement effects are orderly, and choosing to vary or repeat is lawfully governed by relative reinforcement frequencies. The operant nature of variability has important implications. For example, learning, exploring, creating, and problem solving may partly depend on it. Abnormal levels of variability, including those found in psychopathologies such as autism, depression, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, may be modified through reinforcement. Operant variability may also help to explain some of the unique attributes of voluntary action.

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Section: Related Areasmentioning

confidence: 86%

Operant variability: Evidence, functions, and theory

Neuringer

2002

Psychonomic Bulletin & Review

220

217

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“…Following Searcy and Yasukawa (1990), we calculated song type switching frequency as X/c/(n-l), where X is the number of song switches in a sample and n is the number of songs in the sample. As discussed by Searcy and Yasukawa, this measure gives an index of song type switching that can be based on an entire sample of songs, and which is not confounded by singing rate.…”

Section: Generalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Parasite faunas, testosterone and secondary sexual traits in male red-winged blackbirds

Weatherhead

Metz

Bennett

et al. 1993

Behav Ecol Sociobiol

139

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We examined associations among parasite infections, secondary sexual traits and testosterone in male red-winged blackbirds sampled at the start of the breeding season. Parasites quantified included ectoparasitic lice and mites and endoparasitic blood protozoans, nematodes, trematodes and cestodes. Secondary sexual traits that we quantified included body size, epaulet size and color, song repertoire size and song switching rate, and behavioral responses to male and female models.Overall we found few significant associations between parasites and secondary sexual traits, between secondary sexual traits and testosterone, or between parasites and testosterone. In addition, most parasite taxa appeared to infect birds independently, although the low prevalence (<50%) of many of the parasites meant that our sample sizes were too small to detect weak associations. Our most promising results were obtained for ectoparasitic mites, which tended to occur on birds uninfected with other parasites, on birds with longer epaulets, and on birds with higher levels of testosterone. Epaulet length and testosterone are both probable correlates of dominance in this species. Further research will be required to determine whether there is a causal link between the immunosuppressive effects of testosterone and the mite infections, and between testosterone, epaulet length and male mating success.

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“…1): (1) length, the duration in sec of the vocalization, (2)% to peak, the percent of the vocalization length elapsed until the peak amplitude was reached, and (3) interval, the length of time (s) from the end of the previous vocalization and the start of the vocalization in question. The switching frequency among VTs was computed following Searcy and Yasukawa (1990) as the observed number of switches of VT divided by the number of opportunities to switch. A bout of using a given VT is defined as a series of vocalizations (one or more) that are of the same VT.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A bout of using a given VT is defined as a series of vocalizations (one or more) that are of the same VT. If in a series of n vocalizations there are x bouts, then the switching frequency is (x(1)/(n(1) (Searcy and Yasukawa 1990).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Temporal pattern of vocalization type usage in singing sessions of male tyrant flycatchers (Tyranninae)

Hughes

2008

Journal of Avian Biology

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It has been hypothesized that variation (e.g., of repertoire elements) in prolonged vocalization sessions of passerine birds can serve to minimize habituation by conspecifics. The repertoire of vocalization types limited in suboscine passerines, raising the question of how a limited set of elements can create patterns that minimize habituation. This question was studied by computational analysis of recorded singing sessions of 20 suboscine species from the subfamily Tyranninae, family Tyrannidae (tyrant flycatchers). The recordings of 12 of the species included two or more distinct vocalization types (VTs). In these species, the interval between vocalization units when the VT changed was on average shorter than that when the VT remained the same. In addition, when the VT changed, the mean interval length between successive vocalization units differed depending on which VT preceded the interval and which VT followed it. On the other hand, species with just a single VT in the session analyzed showed a surprisingly high degree of absolute difference between adjacent vocalization units with respect to both the length of the vocalization and percentage of time elapsed until peak amplitude. A change in the rhythm of vocalization accompanying a change in VT provided a potential means of drawing a conspecific listener's attention to the change in VT. The results showed that tyrant flycatchers use temporal patterning to achieve a high level of variety in vocalization sessions despite a limited vocal repertoire.

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Use of the song repertoire in intersexual and intrasexual contexts by male red-winged blackbirds

Cited by 72 publications

References 23 publications

Operant variability: Evidence, functions, and theory

Operant variability: Evidence, functions, and theory

Parasite faunas, testosterone and secondary sexual traits in male red-winged blackbirds

Temporal pattern of vocalization type usage in singing sessions of male tyrant flycatchers (Tyranninae)

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