Abstract
Many animal signals are performed in a highly redundant manner as in some bird species where males sing several renditions of one song type before switching to another. However, differences in signal redundancy between contexts and between individuals are only poorly understood. We found that chaffinches (Fringilla coelebs) in noisier areas (i.e., close to waterfalls and torrents) sang longer bouts of the same song type before switching to a new type, suggesting that they use increased serial redundancy to get the message across in noisy conditions. This is the first evidence of a noise-dependent adjustment of signal redundancy in a songbird. In addition, we found that song types with faster trills were sung in shorter bouts suggesting that the performance of highly redundant song series is probably limited by motor constraints. Thus, in noisy environments, serial redundancy in bird song may reflect a trade-off between successful signal transmission and preventing motor fatigue.
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Acknowledgements
We would like to thank Katharina Riebel, Ole Larsen, Jeff Podos, and two anonymous referees for helpful comments on the manuscript. H. B. acknowledges funding by the Emmy Noether Programme of the German Research Foundation (award BR 2309/2-1) and the support of the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin where a fellowship in the academic year 2004–2005 provided excellent working conditions.
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Brumm, H., Slater, P.J.B. Ambient noise, motor fatigue, and serial redundancy in chaffinch song. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 60, 475–481 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0188-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-006-0188-y