Abstract
Social networks are often inferred from spatial associations, but other parameters like acoustic communication are likely to play a central role in within group interactions. However, it is currently difficult to determine which individual initiates vocalizations, or who responds to whom. To this aim, we designed a method that allows analyzing group vocal network while controlling for spatial networks, by positioning each group member in equidistant individual cages and analyzing continuous vocal interactions semi-automatically. We applied this method to two types of zebra finch groups, composed of either two adult females and two juveniles, or four young adults (juveniles from the first groups). Young often co-occur in the same social group as adults but are likely to have a different social role, which may be reflected in their vocal interactions. Therefore, we tested the hypothesis that the social structure of the group influences the parameters of the group vocal network. We found that groups including juveniles presented periods with higher level of activity than groups composed of young adults. Using two types of analyses (Markov analysis and cross-correlation), we showed that juveniles as well as adults were more likely to respond to individuals of their own age-class (i.e. to call one after another, in terms of turn-taking, and within a short time-window, in terms of time delay). When juveniles turned into adulthood, they showed adult characteristics of vocal patterns. Together our results suggest that vocal behavior changes during ontogeny, and individuals are more strongly connected with individuals of the same age-class within acoustic networks.
Highlights
Social interactions with adults during ontogeny are likely to shape the social developmental trajectories of juvenile individuals
Adult females seem to be more selective in their interactions with males than juvenile females, and this study suggests the role of social interactions with adults in young male vocal development (Miller et al, 2008)
Group General Vocal Activity We found an effect of the group type on the second composite score of the Principal Component Analysis (PCA), which mainly depicted the vocalization rate in bursts and the total length of bursts
Summary
Social interactions with adults during ontogeny are likely to shape the social developmental trajectories of juvenile individuals. Some behaviors like courtship, mate choice preferences or foraging skills are partly shaped by social conditions during ontogeny (Freeberg, 1996; Farine et al, 2015) or at adulthood (Freeberg, 2000; Verzijden et al, 2012; Westerman et al, 2012) It has Juveniles/Adults Acoustic Network in Birds been shown that complex social environments, providing more opportunities for learning, allow individuals to improve their courtship performance or mate choice (during ontogeny, Miller et al, 2008; at adulthood, Oh and Badyaev, 2010; Jordan and Brooks, 2012). It has been shown that a horizontal transmission of the father’s song can occur between two young zebra finch males (Derégnaucourt and Gahr, 2013)
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