Song Repertoire Size Research Articles

Song repertoires and reproductive success in the great reed warbler Acrocephalus arundinaceus

The relationship between song repertoire size and reproductive success was investigated in a population of great reed warblers breeding in southern Germany. No correlations were found between repertoire size and various measures of male quality such as weight, wing length and age. Repertoire size was not correlated with territory size, but showed strong correlations with some measures of territory quality such as the amount of high quality reeds and reed-water interface. Repertoire size and territory quality were both correlated with various measures of reproductive success. Partial correlation analysis revealed that territory quality had a more significant effect upon the number of females obtained, but that repertoire size had a more significant effect upon the number of young produced.

Interspecific comparisons of the size of neural song control regions and song complexity in duetting birds: evolutionary implications

Previous studies have demonstrated a correlation between song repertoire size and volume of song control regions (SCRs) in the brains of songbirds. In the present study we demonstrate that 2 congeneric species of tropical duetting wrens, the rufous-and-white wren (Thryothorus rufalbus) and the bay wren (T. nigricapillus), share the same relationship between SCR volume and vocal complexity. In each species, females sing in elaborate duets with males. Males of these species have similar song repertoire sizes; there is no significant difference between heterospecific males in the volumes of SCRs. Female rufous-and-white wrens have less than half as large a song repertoire as female bay wrens, and all of their SCRs measured are significantly smaller than those of bay wren females. This interspecific equivalence of the relationship between SCR volume and repertoire size suggests that the neural system regulating vocal behavior in songbirds is evolutionarily conservative in the manner in which it encodes song complexity.

Sexual Response of Female Great Tits to Variation in Size of Males' Song Repertoires

We investigated the effects of the size of the males' song repertoire on the sexual display behavior of female great tits, in an attempt to determine the relative "attractiveness" of different sizes of repertoire. Previous work had discovered a correlation between the repertoire size of males and their lifetime reproductive success. In our experiment, females were brought into reproductive behavior by photoperiod and hormone manipulations and tested in the laboratory. Tests involved repertoire sizes ranging from one to five song types, spanning most of the variation found in natural populations of singing males. The number of copulationsolicitation displays given by the females increased with repertoire size. Our results are consistent with the "truth in advertising" model of sexual selection for the evolution of large repertoire size in songbirds. Females obtain a direct reproductive advantage from mating with males with large repertoires.

Age-related variation in song repertoire size and repertoire sharing of yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia)

Songs of male yellow warblers (Dendroica petechia), ranging from 1 to 6 years of age, were recorded in the spring and summer of 1984. Recorded repertoire size and number of songs shared with neighbours varied positively with age in the spring but not in summer. Neither clutch initiation date nor fledging success varied with age or number of songs shared but both measures of reproductive success varied with size of recorded song repertoire.

Incubation Period and Foraging Technique in Shorebirds

Previous articleNext article No AccessNotes and CommentsIncubation Period and Foraging Technique in ShorebirdsErica NolErica Nol Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The American Naturalist Volume 128, Number 1Jul., 1986 Published for The American Society of Naturalists Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/284543 Views: 12Total views on this site Citations: 10Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1986 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Ivonne I. Vega‐Ruiz, José Alfredo Castillo‐Guerrero, Eduardo Palacios, Guillermo Fernández Breeding population size and trends of American Oystercatchers on small islands of Bahía Santa María‐La Reforma, Sinaloa, Mexico, Journal of Field Ornithology 90, no.44 (Dec 2019): 325–334.https://doi.org/10.1111/jofo.12315Colleen R. Murchison, Yuri Zharikov, Erica Nol Human Activity and Habitat Characteristics Influence Shorebird Habitat Use and Behavior at a Vancouver Island Migratory Stopover Site, Environmental Management 58, no.33 (Jun 2016): 386–398.https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-016-0727-xMelissa Rose, Erica Nol Foraging Behavior of Non-Breeding Semipalmated Plovers, Waterbirds 33, no.11 (Mar 2010): 59–69.https://doi.org/10.1675/063.033.0107Hans Schekkerman, Arjan Boele Foraging in precocial chicks of the black-tailed godwit Limosa limosa : vulnerability to weather and prey size, Journal of Avian Biology 40, no.44 (Jul 2009): 369–379.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-048X.2008.04330.xJoseph R Liebezeit, Paul A Smith, Richard B Lanctot, Hans Schekkerman, Ingrid Tulp, Steve J Kendall, Diane M Tracy, Robert J Rodrigues, Hans Meltofte, Julie A Robinson, Cheri Gratto-Trevor, Brian J Mccaffery, Julie Morse, Steve W Zack Assessing the Development of Shorebird Eggs Using the Flotation Method: Species-Specific and Generalized Regression Models, The Condor 109, no.11 (Feb 2007): 32–47.https://doi.org/10.1093/condor/109.1.32Paul M. Nealen An interspecific comparison using immunofluorescence reveals that synapse density in the avian song system is related to sex but not to male song repertoire size, Brain Research 1032, no.1-21-2 (Jan 2005): 50–62.https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainres.2004.10.059Andrew N Iwaniuk, John E Nelson Developmental differences are correlated with relative brain size in birds: a comparative analysis, Canadian Journal of Zoology 81, no.1212 (Dec 2003): 1913–1928.https://doi.org/10.1139/z03-190Paul M. Nealen, Robert E. Ricklefs Early diversification of the avian brain:body relationship, Journal of Zoology 253, no.33 (Feb 2006): 391–404.https://doi.org/10.1017/S095283690100036XS. Kleindorfer, H. Hoi Nest Predation Avoidance: an Alternative Explanation for Male Incubation in Acrocephalus melanopogon, Ethology 103, no.88 (Apr 2010): 619–631.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1997.tb00173.xIngvar Byrkjedal Time constraints and vigilance: Breeding season diet of the Dotterel (Charadrius morinellus), Journal für Ornithologie 130, no.33 (Jul 1989): 293–302.https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01644742

Male quality, reproduction, and survival in the great tit (Parus major)

Three possible measures of male quality (social dominance, song, and size), reproduction, and survival were studied in a single population of great tits. Winter dominance position on a feeder was related to strophe length (number of phrases per strophe), inversely related to positive drift (decrease of the singing rate of the phrases in a strophe), but not related to song repertoire size. Neither winter dominance position nor song were related to size (wing length, tarso-metatarsus length, weight). Singing capacity was not correlated with individual reproductive success in a single breeding season, using a rather limited data set. However, “better” singers (males which sing longer strophes, show less positive drift, and have larger song repertoires) survived better and had a higher individual lifetime reproductive success (on the basis of a male's recruited offspring of all breeding seasons). Our results show that there exist measurable differences whereby birds that are dominant in winter sing “better”, survive longer, and produce more surviving offspring during their life time. We suggest that differences in male quality are the common cause (direct and indirect) of all these effects.

Neural correlates of female song in tropical duetting birds

Duetting involves production of song by female and male birds in close temporal coordination. We studied the neural network controlling song in 3 tropical duetting species. The volumes of song control regions (SCRs) in the brain, neuronal density in nucleus robustus of the archistriatum (RA) which is one of these SCRs, total number of neurons in RA, and somal size of neurons in RA were measured and compared to values published for zebra finches and canaries in which only males sing. The extent of sexual dimorphism in SCR volumes, RA neuronal density, and total neuronal number in RA varied in a graded fashion across species and was correlated with extent of sexual dimorphism in song repertoire size in any one species. Somal size of RA neurons was identical in males and females of each duetting species, regardless of relative repertoire size. Of all SCRs, the caudal nucleus of the ventral hyperstriatum appeared to have the greatest relative size in the song system of duetting birds compared to non-duetting species.

Versatility and continuity in the songs of thrushes Turdus spp.

A relationship between continuity and versatility was proposed by Hartshorne as a general feature of song organization in birds and argued to be linked to the avoidance of habituation (the monotony threshold principle). Thrushes of the genus Turdus vary greatly in song repertoire size, from the Redwing with a single song phrase to the Song Thrush which normally possesses well over 100 (Table 1), so that this group is well suited to looking for such a relationship. Recordings of 14 Turdus species were used to do so. Species in which successive songs do differ were indeed found to sing with shorter intervals between songs, though no equivalent relationship was found at the level of individual sound elements. There was a suggestion that species might fall into two contrasting groups without intermediates, one with continuous and highly varied songs and the other with discrete and simple songs. It is suggested that the relationship between continuity and versatility is a real phemomenon but that it is unlikely to be explained in the way that Hartshorne proposed. More likely is the hypothesis that continuous and varied songs have evolved primarily as mate attractants through sexual selection, while the principal role of discrete and simple songs is in communication between males.

Song Repertoire Size and Male Quality in Song Sparrows

Il n'a pas ete trouve de relation entre l'importance du repertoire et les divers parametres de qualite du mâle chez Melospiza melodia

Innate differences in singing behaviour of sparrows reared in isolation from adult conspecific song

Innate differences in the singing behaviour of male swamp ( Melospiza georgiana) and song ( M. melodia) sparrows were identified by rearing males from the egg in the laboratory under identical conditions, in complete isolation from adult conspecific song. Isolation-reared males of both species displayed several abnormal song features, including reduced numbers of notes per song, longer durations of notes and inter-note intervals, and fewer notes per syllable. Despite these and other abnormalities, many species differences emerged that matched differences in the natural singing behaviour of the two species. These included differences in song repertoire size, song duration and degrees of segmentation, numbers of notes per song, durations of notes and inter-note intervals, and several measures reflecting the organization of songs into note complexes, syllables and trills. Although learning can influence all levels of organization of the motor patterns of song in swamp and song sparrows, its contribution to the achievement of normal song behaviour appears to be most crucial at the level of the fine structure of the notes and syllables from which the songs are constructed.

Repertoire size, auditory templates, and selective vocal learning in songbirds

When vocal variability, here measured by song repertoire size, increases in songbirds, it may become increasingly difficult to encode genetically all the information which is required to ensure the learning of only conspecific songs. Marsh wrens ( Cistothorus palustris) have sizeable song repertoires, and while no vocal mimicry is evident in the field, males will readily learn heterospecific songs in the laboratory. These data, together with data from the literature, support the proposed relationship between increased repertoire sizes and reduced specificity of the innate auditory template which guides vocal learning.

Song repertoire size and female preferences in song sparrows

Captive female song sparrows (Melospiza melodia), after treatment with estradiol, perform copulation solicitation displays when presented with songs of conspecific males. Females respond more strongly to eight song types than to four, and to sixteen song types than to eight. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that female song sparrows prefer large repertoires, rather than preferring normal or natural repertoire sizes (5 to 13 song types). The results with captive females might be taken to imply that females in the field prefer as mates those males with the largest repertoire sizes. This hypothesis was tested by observing pairing in a field population. In each of 2 years, there was no significant correlation between male repertoire size and date of initial pair formation. Furthermore, there was no correlation between repertoire size and the speed with which a second mate was acquired after removal of the first. It is concluded that repertoire size does not have an important influence on female choice of mates in song sparrows.