Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Site specificity in advertisement calls and responses to playbacks of local and foreign call variants in satin bowerbirds, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Avian vocalisations often show patterns of geographic variation. Previous work on the satin bowerbird has shown that although spatial variation in this species’ advertisement calls is strongly associated with habitat structure, some variation is apparent within habitat types. Seventeen populations located throughout the species’ distribution were used to examine whether spatial call variation could be influenced by other processes such as random drift or the presence of fine-scale vocal traditions; if this were the case, differing call variants would be expected at geographically discrete sampling sites both within and among habitat types. There were population-specific call variants at each of the sites sampled, with different variants apparent even within habitat types. At most sites, individuals gave only a single variant of advertisement call, and the call variant at one site, sampled after a 5-year interval, appears to have been relatively stable. Playback experiments were conducted at three populations to examine whether local call variants invoked a greater response than several non-local variants differing in their degree of similarity to the local variant. Birds responded strongly to local call variants but not to either of two foreign variants, one of which was similar to their local variant and one of which was very different. A pattern of geographic variation across populations, the fact that local and non-local variants evoke different responses and circumstantial evidence indicating that individuals can learn new calls all suggest that factors affecting song learning and the ability of males to establish and defend a bower site may have contributed to the establishment of geographically variable vocal cultures in this species.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baker MC (2000) Cultural diversification in the flight call of the ringneck parrot in Western Australia. Condor 102:905–910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker MC (2001) Bird song research: the past 100 years. Bird Behav 14:3–50

    Google Scholar 

  • Baker MC, Baker EM, Baker MSA (2001) Island and island-like effects on vocal repertoire of singing honeyeaters. Anim Behav 62:767–774

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baptista LF, Johnson RB (1982) Song variation in insular and mainland California brown creepers (Certhia familiaris). J Ornithol 123:131–144

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borgia G (1985) Bower destruction and sexual competition in the satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 18:91–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Borgia G, Gore MA (1986) Feather stealing in the satin bowerbird (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus): male competition and the quality of display. Anim Behav 34:727–738

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bradbury JW, Cortopassi KA, Clemmons JR (2001) Geographical variation in the contact calls of orange-fronted parakeets. Auk 118:958–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Charif RA, Mitchell S, Clark CW (1995) Canary 1.2 user’s manual. Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY

    Google Scholar 

  • Christie PJ, Mennill DJ, Ratcliffe LM (2004) Pitch shifts and song structure indicate male quality in the dawn chorus of black-capped chickadees. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 55:341–348

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Diamond J (1986) Animal art: variation in bower decorating style among male bowerbirds Amblyornis inornatus. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 83:3042–3046

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Endler JA, Westcott DA, Madden JR, Robson T (2005) Animal visual systems and the evolution of color patterns; sensory processing illuminates signal evolution. Evolution 59:1795–1818

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Handford P (1988) Trill rate dialects in the rufous-collared sparrow, Zonotrichia capensis, in northwestern Argentina. Can J Zool 66:2658–2670

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harbison H, Nelson DA, Hahn TP (1999) Long-term persistence of song dialects in the mountain white-crowned sparrow. Condor 101:133–148

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irwin DE, Bensch S, Price TD (2001) Speciation in a ring. Nature 409:333–337

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kroodsma DE, Baylis JR (1982) Appendix: a world survey of evidence for vocal learning in birds. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH (eds) Acoustic communication in birds, vol. 2. Academic, New York, pp 311–337

    Google Scholar 

  • Kusmierski R, Borgia G, Uy A, Crozier RH (1997) Labile evolution of display traits in bowerbirds indicates reduced effects of phylogenetic constraint. Proc R Soc Lond B 264:307–313

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Leitner S, Voigt C, Gahr M (2001) Seasonal changes in the song pattern of the non-domesticated island canary (Serinus canaria), a field study. Behaviour 138:885–904

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lynch A (1996) The population memetics of birdsong. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH (eds) Ecology and evolution of acoustic communication in birds. Cornell University Press, Ithaca, NY, pp 181–197

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall AJ (1954) Bowerbirds: their displays and breeding cycles: a preliminary statement. Clarendon, Oxford

    Google Scholar 

  • Matthysen E (1997) Geographic variation in the occurrence of song types in nuthatch Sitta europaea populations. Ibis 139:102–106

    Google Scholar 

  • Maxwell PS, Robson TE, Goldizen AW (2004) Home-range sizes and bower visitation patterns of immature male satin bowerbirds (Ptilonorhynchus violaceus). Emu 104:75–77

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McArthur PD (1986) Similarity of playback songs to self song as a determinant of response strength in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Anim Behav 34:199–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McGregor PK, Catchpole CK, Dabelsteen T, Falls JB, Fusani L, Gerhardt HC, Gilbert F, Horn AG, Klump GM, Kroodsma DE, Lambrechts MM, McComb KE, Nelson DA, Pepperberg IM, Ratcliffe L, Searcy WA, Weary DM (1992) Design of playback experiments: the Thornbridge Hall NATO ARW consensus. In: McGregor PK (ed) Playback and studies of animal communication. Plenum, New York, pp 1–9

    Google Scholar 

  • Morton ES (1975) Ecological sources of selection on avian sounds. Am Nat 109:17–34

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mundinger PC (1979) Call learning in the Carduelinae: ethological and systematic considerations. Syst Zool 28:270–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mundinger PC (1982) Microgeographic and macrogeographic variation in the acquired vocalizations of birds. In: Kroodsma DE, Miller EH (eds) Acoustic communication in birds, vol. 2. Academic, New York, pp 147–208

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA (1998) Geographic variation in song of Gambel’s white-crowned sparrow. Behaviour 135:321–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA, Khanna H, Marler P (2001) Learning by instruction or selection: implications for patterns of geographic variation in bird song. Behaviour 138:1137–1160

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA, Soha JA (2004) Perception of geographical variation in song by male Puget Sound white-crowned sparrows, Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis. Anim Behav 68:395–405

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls JA, Austin JJ, Moritz C, Goldizen AW (2006) Genetic population structure and call variation in a passerine bird, the satin bowerbird, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus. Evolution 60:1279–1290

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nicholls JA, Goldizen AW (2006) Habitat type and density influence vocal signal design in satin bowerbirds. J Anim Ecol 75:549–558

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nix HA (1993) Bird distributions in relation to imperatives for habitat conservation in Queensland. In: Catterall CP, Driscoll PV, Hulsman K, Muir D, Taplin A (eds) Birds and their habitats: status and conservation in Queensland. Queensland Ornithological Society, Brisbane, pp 12–21

    Google Scholar 

  • Pepperberg IM (1994) Vocal learning in grey parrots (Psittacus erithacus): effects of social interaction, reference, and context. Auk 111:300–313

    Google Scholar 

  • Price JJ (1998) Family- and sex-specific vocal traditions in a cooperatively breeding songbird. Proc R Soc Lond B 265:497–502

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schodde R, Calaby JH (1972) The biogeography of the Australo-Papuan bird and mammal faunas in relation to Torres Strait. In: Walker D (ed) Bridge and barrier: the natural and cultural history of Torres Strait. ANU, Canberra, pp 257–299

    Google Scholar 

  • Searcy WA, Nowicki S, Hughes M, Peters S (2002) Geographic song discrimination in relation to dispersal distances in song sparrows. Am Nat 159:221–230

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Slabbekoorn H, Smith TB (2002a) Bird song, ecology and speciation. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B 357:493–503

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slabbekoorn H, Smith TB (2002b) Habitat-dependent song divergence in the little greenbul: an analysis of environmental selection pressures on acoustic signals. Evolution 56:1849–1858

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • StatSoft (2003) Statistica (data analysis software system), version 6. StatSoft, Tulsa, OK

    Google Scholar 

  • Tack EJ, Robson TE, Putland DA, Goldizen AW (2005) Geographic variation in vocalisations of satin bowerbirds, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus, in south-eastern Queensland. Emu 105:27–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Thielcke G (1973) On the origin of divergence of learned signals (songs) in isolated populations. Ibis 115:511–516

    Google Scholar 

  • Thielcke G, Wustenberg K (1985) Experiments on the origin of dialects in the short-toed treecreeper (Certhia brachydactyla). Behav Ecol Sociobiol 16:195–201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trainer JM (1989) Cultural evolution in song dialects of yellow-rumped caciques in Panama. Ethology 80:190–204

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Uy JAC, Borgia G (2000) Sexual selection drives rapid divergence in bowerbird display traits. Evolution 54:273–278

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vehrencamp SL (2001) Is song-type matching a conventional signal of aggressive intentions? Proc R Soc Lond B 268:1637–1642

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Vehrencamp SL, Ritter AF, Keever M, Bradbury JW (2003) Responses to playback of local vs. distant contact calls in the orange-fronted conure, Aratinga canicularis. Ethology 109:37–54

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Westcott D, Kroon FJ (2002) Geographic song variation and its consequences in the golden bowerbird. Condor 104:750–760

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wright TF (1996) Regional dialects in the contact call of a parrot. Proc R Soc Lond B 263:867–872

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

I thank E. Tack and D. Westcott for the use of their recordings, numerous landowners for permission to work on their land, H. Rodgers, H. Gunter, A. Nicholls, A. Nelson, E. Parks and K. Arhangelsky for their assistance in the field and A. Goldizen, J. Austin and C. Moritz for encouragement and supervisory support. A. Goldizen, J. Scarl, D. Pavlacky, J. Endler, L. Joseph, the UQ Behavioural Ecology Research Group and several anonymous reviewers commented on earlier drafts of the manuscript. For financial support, I thank the National Science Foundation (grant to C. Moritz), Birds Australia, the Gould League of NSW and the Ecological Society of Australia. All recording and playback protocols were approved by the University of Queensland Animal Ethics Committee.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Integrative Biology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, 4072, Australia

    James A. Nicholls

  2. Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JT, UK

    James A. Nicholls

Authors
  1. James A. Nicholls
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to James A. Nicholls.

Additional information

Communicated by J. Podos

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Nicholls, J.A. Site specificity in advertisement calls and responses to playbacks of local and foreign call variants in satin bowerbirds, Ptilonorhynchus violaceus . Behav Ecol Sociobiol 62, 831–841 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0509-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-007-0509-9

Keywords

Search

Navigation