Response to displaced neighbours in a territorial songbird with a large repertoire |
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Authors: | Elodie Briefer Thierry Aubin Fanny Rybak |
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Institution: | (1) University Paris 11, NAMC, CNRS-UMR8620, Orsay, France;(2) Present address: School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Queen Mary University of London, Mile End Road, London, E1 4NS, UK |
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Abstract: | Neighbour recognition allows territory owners to modulate their territorial response according to the threat posed by each
neighbour and thus to reduce the costs associated with territorial defence. Individual acoustic recognition of neighbours
has been shown in numerous bird species, but few of them had a large repertoire. Here, we tested individual vocal recognition
in a songbird with a large repertoire, the skylark Alauda arvensis. We first examined the physical basis for recognition in the song, and we then experimentally tested recognition by playing
back songs of adjacent neighbours and strangers. Males showed a lower territorial response to adjacent neighbours than to
strangers when we broadcast songs from the shared boundary. However, when we broadcast songs from the opposite boundary, males
showed a similar response to neighbours and strangers, indicating a spatial categorisation of adjacent neighbours’ songs.
Acoustic analyses revealed that males could potentially use the syntactical arrangement of syllables in sequences to identify
the songs of their neighbours. Neighbour interactions in skylarks are thus subtle relationships that can be modulated according
to the spatial position of each neighbour. |
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Keywords: | Neighbour recognition Song analysis Playback experiment Oscine Alauda arvensis |
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