It Takes All Kinds in Acoustic Communication: A New Perspective on the Song Overlapping Phenomenon

Abstract

AbstractOver the last few decades, research into song overlapping produced many – often conflicting – interpretations of its function and culminated in the current debate about the usefulness of this concept. To avoid a deadlock in song overlapping research, we present a new approach to existing evidence and offer several novel hypotheses that might help enhance future experiments. Our analysis offers both a theoretical perspective and specific predictions of each testable hypothesis. We present a detailed analysis of important questions. First, what information does song overlapping convey (is it a signal of aggressive intent or of male quality)? Second, what evolutionary mechanism stabilizes honesty of song overlapping as a signal (is it an index signal, handicap, proximity risk, conventional signal or a modifier)? Additionally, we offer some alternative explanations of the phenomenon (song overlapping as a mask or an incidental phenomenon). We hope to encourage future researchers not only to gather high‐quality experimental data, but also to make more careful interpretations, as we believe that no all‐encompassing explanation of song overlapping will be formulated any time soon. Focused comparative approaches will be necessary, as song overlapping might have different functions in different species.