Reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the Southern House Wren, Troglodytes musculus

Breeding birds often give alarm calls when a predator is near the nest. These calls have been proposed to serve as distraction displays for the predator, alerts for a mate conveying information about the presence of a threat, or a warning for nestlings about a potential risk. These functions, howeve...

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Autores principales: Serra, C., Fernández, G.J.
Formato: JOUR
Materias:
Alarm calls
Begging
Communication
Predation risk
alarm signal
begging behavior
communication
nestling
predation risk
songbird
vocalization
Aves
Troglodytes
Troglodytes musculus
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00218375_v152_n2_p331_Serra
Aporte de:
Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA) de Universidad de Buenos Aires
id todo:paper_00218375_v152_n2_p331_Serra
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spelling todo:paper_00218375_v152_n2_p331_Serra2023-10-03T14:20:56Z Reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the Southern House Wren, Troglodytes musculus Serra, C. Fernández, G.J. Alarm calls Begging Communication Predation risk alarm signal begging behavior communication nestling predation risk songbird vocalization Aves Troglodytes Troglodytes musculus Breeding birds often give alarm calls when a predator is near the nest. These calls have been proposed to serve as distraction displays for the predator, alerts for a mate conveying information about the presence of a threat, or a warning for nestlings about a potential risk. These functions, however, may not be mutually exclusive. In our study, we assessed if alarm calls uttered by breeding Southern House Wrens, Troglodytes musculus, are made to warn nestlings about risk. If so, we expected that nestlings would reduce overall activity in the nest and that the parents' call rate would be related to the detectability of the young (e. g., vocalizations). We experimentally elicited parents' alarm calls and compared nestling behavior before and after giving that stimulus. We found that Southern House Wren nestlings reduced their time spent vocalizing and remained inactive for longer when their parents called. Therefore, nestlings reduced their detectability by decreasing their activity inside the nest when their parents produced alarm calls. On the other hand, parental calling rates were not related to the nestling activity registered in any experimental stage. Therefore, we failed to find reliable results supporting the hypothesis that parent calling is uttered to silence nestlings. These results appear to indicate that alarm calling by breeding birds might fulfill other functions besides alerting nestlings. Future studies of this species are necessary to understand if parents are warning nestlings about a threat when they emit alarm calls. © 2010 Dt. Ornithologen-Gesellschaft e.V. Fil:Fernández, G.J. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales; Argentina. JOUR info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.5/ar http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00218375_v152_n2_p331_Serra
institution Universidad de Buenos Aires
institution_str I-28
repository_str R-134
collection Biblioteca Digital - Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales (UBA)
topic Alarm calls
Begging
Communication
Predation risk
alarm signal
begging behavior
communication
nestling
predation risk
songbird
vocalization
Aves
Troglodytes
Troglodytes musculus
spellingShingle Alarm calls
Begging
Communication
Predation risk
alarm signal
begging behavior
communication
nestling
predation risk
songbird
vocalization
Aves
Troglodytes
Troglodytes musculus
Serra, C.
Fernández, G.J.
Reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the Southern House Wren, Troglodytes musculus
topic_facet Alarm calls
Begging
Communication
Predation risk
alarm signal
begging behavior
communication
nestling
predation risk
songbird
vocalization
Aves
Troglodytes
Troglodytes musculus
description Breeding birds often give alarm calls when a predator is near the nest. These calls have been proposed to serve as distraction displays for the predator, alerts for a mate conveying information about the presence of a threat, or a warning for nestlings about a potential risk. These functions, however, may not be mutually exclusive. In our study, we assessed if alarm calls uttered by breeding Southern House Wrens, Troglodytes musculus, are made to warn nestlings about risk. If so, we expected that nestlings would reduce overall activity in the nest and that the parents' call rate would be related to the detectability of the young (e. g., vocalizations). We experimentally elicited parents' alarm calls and compared nestling behavior before and after giving that stimulus. We found that Southern House Wren nestlings reduced their time spent vocalizing and remained inactive for longer when their parents called. Therefore, nestlings reduced their detectability by decreasing their activity inside the nest when their parents produced alarm calls. On the other hand, parental calling rates were not related to the nestling activity registered in any experimental stage. Therefore, we failed to find reliable results supporting the hypothesis that parent calling is uttered to silence nestlings. These results appear to indicate that alarm calling by breeding birds might fulfill other functions besides alerting nestlings. Future studies of this species are necessary to understand if parents are warning nestlings about a threat when they emit alarm calls. © 2010 Dt. Ornithologen-Gesellschaft e.V.
format JOUR
author Serra, C.
Fernández, G.J.
author_facet Serra, C.
Fernández, G.J.
author_sort Serra, C.
title Reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the Southern House Wren, Troglodytes musculus
title_short Reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the Southern House Wren, Troglodytes musculus
title_full Reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the Southern House Wren, Troglodytes musculus
title_fullStr Reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the Southern House Wren, Troglodytes musculus
title_full_unstemmed Reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the Southern House Wren, Troglodytes musculus
title_sort reduction of nestlings' vocalizations in response to parental alarm calls in the southern house wren, troglodytes musculus
url http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00218375_v152_n2_p331_Serra
work_keys_str_mv AT serrac reductionofnestlingsvocalizationsinresponsetoparentalalarmcallsinthesouthernhousewrentroglodytesmusculus
AT fernandezgj reductionofnestlingsvocalizationsinresponsetoparentalalarmcallsinthesouthernhousewrentroglodytesmusculus
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