Visual displays enhance vocal duet production and the perception of coordination despite spatial separation of partners

Ręk, Paweł; Magrath, Robert D.

doi:10.1016/j.anbehav.2020.08.002

Cited by 8 publications

(38 citation statements)

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“…The timing and especially the precise timing of highly coordinated avian duets seems to be a crucial function in many species (Brumm & Slater, 2007). When duets are complicated, precise coordination may signal pair bond strength (Hall & Magrath, 2007) and reflect sophisticated audio‐visual mechanisms of appearance (Ręk & Magrath, 2020). However, Yellow‐breasted Boubous duets are simple, with one of the pair members (usually female) following the partner vocalisation with a short delay.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yellow‐breasted Boubous (Laniarius atroflavus) jointly defend territories with male‐led duets against stranger pairs, males and females

2020

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Duetting is a cooperative behaviour that can have multiple functions. All 22 species within the genus Laniarius (Malaconotidae family) produce duets and solos with varying levels of complexity. We experimentally investigated the Yellow-breasted Boubou (Laniarius atroflavus), an endemic species from W African montane forests, which uses sex-specific signals for both solos and duets. Using two different experiments, we tested the response of territorial pairs, during the breeding season, to the playback of male and female solos and duets in order to investigate their functions in context of territorial intrusion. For the experimental intrusions of duetting pairs, we simulated the male and female songs at a close distance to each other as well as at a larger distance. The first goal was to assess whether intruder type affects the responsiveness of territory owners. The second goal was to examine how spatial segregation of intruding pairs singing duets affects the response. The majority of tested pairs responded to playback by approaching speaker(s) and singing. We found the strongest approach response was to the playback of duets and male solos, with the response to female solo being weak or having no response. The male-initiated, and led, duet was the most frequent and intensive vocal response, while female-initiated duets and solos of both sexes were less often observed. Regardless of the treatment type, the joint response of a pair was stronger if females were involved in it. Results indicate that in Yellow-breasted Boubous, males have the leading role in responding to intruders regardless of the sex or if they intrude the territory as a solo or as a duetting pair. Males were observed increasing their response strength when motivated by their mates, suggesting that female vocalisations are addressed to their own partner. Our results suggest that the most probable function of duets in the studied species is joint resource defence; however, mate guarding and the guarding of paternity are still possible. Our results are consistent with earlier findings showing that structural differences in male and female song of several Laniarius species can be the result of evolution under similar pressure from the need to defend resources together and the potential betrayal of a partner.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Yellow‐breasted Boubous (Laniarius atroflavus) jointly defend territories with male‐led duets against stranger pairs, males and females

2020

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“…In contrast to song types, partners usually use the same type of movement within a duet [13]. The tempo of duetting declines with separation of the calling partners, but more slowly than if the birds used sound alone to coordinate timing [10], implying that the visual component reduces the effect of partner separation on duet tempo.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…By contrast, the role of the partners' separation itself is unclear. Listeners were not affected by a small angular separation unless temporal organization of songs was affected [10]. However, listening magpie-larks rely on movements in assessment of the number and identity of signallers [8], suggesting that movements and songs could also be used jointly to determine the spatial location of signallers.…”

Section: (C) Experimental Treatmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Males and females sing duets consisting of series of short notes, usually produced antiphonally and with precise temporal organization [11,29]. Most duets are sung when partners are close to each other, with a tempo of about 1 note per second, but they can also be sung when partners are apart, which results in a slower tempo [10,29]. Listening birds respond less to such slower-tempo duets [10], yet the role of angular separation of partners, from the perspective of listeners, has not been tested.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Magpie-larks almost always coordinate songs with visual signals, to produce conspicuous multimodal displays [13,30]. Movements improve the identification of signallers and interact with vocalizations in perception of timing [8,10,19], suggesting that both modalities might be involved in the assessment of spatial separation. We therefore carried out a playback experiment to test whether and how wing movements affect responses to the angular separation of individuals of duetting pairs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reality and illusion: the assessment of angular separation of multi-modal signallers in a duetting bird

Ręk

Magrath

2022

Proc. R. Soc. B.

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The spatial distribution of cooperating individuals plays a strategic role in territorial interactions of many group-living animals, and can indicate group cohesion. Vocalizations are commonly used to judge the distribution of signallers, but the spatial resolution of sounds is poor. Many species therefore accompany calls with movement; however, little is known about the role of audio-visual perception in natural interactions. We studied the effect of angular separation on the efficacy of multimodal duets in the Australian magpie-lark, Grallina cyanoleuca . We tested specifically whether conspicuous wing movements, which typically accompany duets, affect responses to auditory angular separation. Multimodal playbacks of duets using robotic models and speakers showed that birds relied primarily on acoustic cues when visual and auditory angular separations were congruent, but used both modalities to judge separation between the signallers when modalities were spatially incongruent. The visual component modified the effect of acoustic separation: robotic models that were apart weakened the response when speakers were together, while models that were together strengthened responses when speakers were apart. Our results show that responses are stronger when signallers are together, and suggest that males were are able to bind information cross-modally on the senders' spatial location, which is consistent with a multisensory illusion.

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The Yellow-breasted Barbet (Trachyphonus margaritatus) introduces vocal duets and choruses with a specific multimodal signal, during territorial advertisement

et al. 2022

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Cooperative behaviour is a prominent feature among many group-living species and continues to pose challenges to our understanding about the evolution of social relationships and task coordination between members of the same social group. Individuals who are willing to cooperate to achieve a joined action need to communicate their intentions and somehow make a common agreement. We investigated how a coordinated chorus song is initiated in a cooperative-breeding bird species, The Yellow-Breasted Barbet (Trachyphonus margaritatus). A chorus can be defined as an interactive vocal display involving several individuals who are synchronizing their behaviour to sing in a time coordinated manner. Synchronizing behaviour to sing in chorus might become quite challenging when several individuals are involved. Thus, group members could use a specific signal to induce such collective action. Yet, few studies have investigated the mechanisms of communal display initiation in chorusing bird species. We conducted playback experiments to induce and record territorial defensive reactions from birds with a video camera. We recorded 26 different groups from distinct wild populations in Djibouti which belonged to 17 sites. We found that barbets use a specific vocalization named chewp note to introduce their duet and chorus. Moreover, we found that the individual that initiates such communal displays may broadcast a multimodal signal by combining chewp note series with a typical body posture with the tail raised and fanned. We suggest that the multimodal signal could serve to attract attention and elicit a response from other group members or could enhance the song coordination.

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Visual displays enhance vocal duet production and the perception of coordination despite spatial separation of partners

Cited by 8 publications

References 44 publications

Yellow‐breasted Boubous (Laniarius atroflavus) jointly defend territories with male‐led duets against stranger pairs, males and females

Yellow‐breasted Boubous (Laniarius atroflavus) jointly defend territories with male‐led duets against stranger pairs, males and females

Reality and illusion: the assessment of angular separation of multi-modal signallers in a duetting bird

The Yellow-breasted Barbet (Trachyphonus margaritatus) introduces vocal duets and choruses with a specific multimodal signal, during territorial advertisement

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