Birdsong: Not all contest but also cooperation?

Curr Biol

Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Acton, Australia.

Published: January 2023

Birdsong generally functions to defend territories from same-sex competitors and to attract mates. Wild zebra finch males now are shown to sing prolifically outside the breeding season and without defending territories, suggesting potential social functions for birdsong beyond competition.

Download full-text PDF

Source
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2022.12.015DOI Listing

Publication Analysis

Top Keywords

birdsong contest
4
contest cooperation?
4
cooperation? birdsong
4
birdsong generally
4
generally functions
4
functions defend
4
defend territories
4
territories same-sex
4
same-sex competitors
4
competitors attract
4

Similar Publications

In birds, song performance determines the outcome of contests over crucial resources. We hypothesized that 1) sustained performance is limited within song, resulting in a performance decline towards the end and 2) the impact of song length is compromised if performance declines. To test these hypotheses, we analyzed the songs of 597 bird species (26 families) and conducted a playback experiment on blue tits ().

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Birdsong: Not all contest but also cooperation?

Curr Biol

January 2023

Research School of Biology, Australian National University, Acton, Australia.

Birdsong generally functions to defend territories from same-sex competitors and to attract mates. Wild zebra finch males now are shown to sing prolifically outside the breeding season and without defending territories, suggesting potential social functions for birdsong beyond competition.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Cognition and reproductive success in cowbirds.

Learn Behav

March 2022

Department of Biology, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

Understanding the relationships between cognitive abilities and fitness is integral to an evolutionary study of brain and behavior. However, these relationships are often difficult to measure and detect. Here we draw upon an opportunistic sample of brown-headed cowbird (Molothrus ater) subjects that had two separate research experiences: First, they engaged in a large series of cognitive tests in David Sherry's Lab in the Advanced Facility for Avian Research (AFAR) at Western University, then subsequently moved to the Field Avian Research Megalab (FARM) at Wilfrid Laurier University where they lived in large breeding flocks in aviaries with other wild-caught cowbirds.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Want AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?

Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!