Superb Fairy-Wren (Malurus cyaneus) Sons and Daughters Acquire Song Elements of Mothers and Social Fathers

Christine Evans,Sonia Kleindorfer

doi:10.3389/fevo.2016.00009

Abstract

Birdsong is regarded as a classic example of a sexually-selected trait and has been primarily studied in systems with male song. Complex solo female song is emerging from the shadows of overlooked phenomena. In males, rearing conditions affect male song complexity, and males with complex songs are often more successful at mate attraction and territorial defense. Little is known about the ontogeny or function of complex female song. Here we examine song elements in fledgling superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) in relation to the song elements of adult tutors. Male and female superb fairy-wrens produce solo song year-round to defend a territory. We ask if sons and daughters acquire song elements from sex-specific vocal tutors. We found that sons and daughters produced the song elements of their mothers and social fathers, and that sons and daughters had comparable song element repertoires at age 7-10 weeks. We conclude that sons and daughters increase their song element repertoire when vocally imitating elements from several vocal tutors, and that both sexes acquire elements from male and female vocal tutors in this system.

Highlights

Birdsong is widely regarded as a sexually-selected trait given ample evidence that complex male song is more likely to attract females and repel intruder males (Andersson, 1994; Marler and Slabbekoorn, 2004; Catchpole and Slater, 2008)
We study song element types in the subsong of fledgling superb fairy-wrens in relation to the song element types of the social father and mother, and ask if there are sex-specific vocal tutors
All we can say at present is that we found no sex differences in fledgling song element repertoire, so it is likely that sex differences emerge later in the superb fairy-wren

Summary

Introduction

Birdsong is widely regarded as a sexually-selected trait given ample evidence that complex male song is more likely to attract females and repel intruder males (Andersson, 1994; Marler and Slabbekoorn, 2004; Catchpole and Slater, 2008). As discussed by Price (2015): “ female song is often treated as a discrete binary character in comparisons among species, with some species categorized as having female song and others not (e.g., Garamszegi et al, 2007; Price, 2009; Odom et al, 2014), evidence suggests that female singing can vary continuously across taxa in both expression and complexity.”. In the superb fairy-wren (Malurus cyaneus), female song, similar to male song, has been shown to function in response to the threat of same-sex conspecific intruders in

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Conclusion