Analysis of duet vocalizations in Myiothlypis leucoblephara (Aves, Parulidae)

Eliara Solange Müller,Marciela Batistela

doi:10.3897/neotropical.14.e37655

Abstract

Bird vocalizations might be used for specific recognition, territorial defense, and reproduction. Bioacoustic studies aim to understand the production, propagation and reception of acoustic signals, and they are an important component of research on animal behavior and evolution. In this study we analyzed the sound structure of duet vocalizations in pairs of Myiothlypis leucoblephara and evaluated whether the vocal variables differ among pairs and if there are differences in temporal characteristics and frequency of duets between pairs in forest edges vs. forest interior. Vocalizations were recorded from 17 bird pairs in three remnants of Atlantic Forest in southern Brazil. Six of the bird pairs were situated at the edge of the forest remnant, and 11 were in the interior of the remnant. The duets of different pairs between forest areas showed descriptive differences in the frequency, number of notes per call, and time between issuance of calls, with the main distinguishing feature being a change in frequency of a few notes in the second part of the musical phrase. The minimum frequency of vocalization was reduced at the private area than in the other two remnants (p &lt;0.05). The duets of birds in the forest edge and forest interior did not significantly differ in minimum or maximum frequency of phrases (p&gt; 0.05), phrase duration (p&gt; 0.05) or number of notes per phrase (p&gt; 0.05). Myiothlypis leucoblephara did not show a specific pattern with respect to issue of phrases in duets, but instead showed five different patterns, which were variable among pairs. There was a sharp decline or alternation in frequency between notes in the second part of the musical phrase for recognition among pairs. Variation in vocalization among M. leucoblephara duets may play a role in pair recognition.

Highlights

Vocal communication is the exchange of information made between sender and receiver individuals (Vielliard 2000) and is an important way of information exchange between birds (Sick 1997; Silva and Vielliard 2011)
Bird acoustic signals are essential for communication (Vielliard 2000), and vocalization height and amplitude variables can be related to home range location and spatial distance between individuals (Storer et al 2002)
Myiothlypis leucoblephara vocalization consists of one phrase that initiates with high frequency and noticeably decreases throughout the duration of the song

Summary

Introduction

Vocal communication is the exchange of information made between sender and receiver individuals (Vielliard 2000) and is an important way of information exchange between birds (Sick 1997; Silva and Vielliard 2011). Bioacoustic studies examine animal vocal displays (Sigrist 2006) and aim to understand the production, propagation and reception of acoustic signals. Such studies are an important component of research into animal behavior and evolution (Salvador 2008). Bird vocalizations are mainly important for territory defense, attraction of the opposite sex (Vielliard 1987; Sick 1997; Storer et al 2002; Sigrist 2006; Pijanowski et al 2011; Pereira 2011) and species recognition (Vielliard 1987; Silva 1995), and play a key role in the evolution and survival of species and ecosystem function (Vielliard 1987). It is well understood that birds might recognize each other through vocalization, but little is known about the specific features of the vocalizations that facilitate individual recognition in territorial birds (Aubin et al 2004)

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Conclusion