Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Spatial and age-related variation in use of locally common song elements in dawn singing of song sparrows Melospiza melodia: old males sing the hits

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

Abstract

In many songbirds, individuals have repertoires of multiple song types, some of which may be shared with others in the local area. Hypotheses about the evolution of song repertoires differ as to whether selection acts primarily on repertoire size itself or the ability to match songs of neighbours. We used a 16-channel acoustic location system to record neighbourhoods of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia melodia) during the dawn chorus. We asked whether males sing all songs with similar frequency as predicted by the Repertoire Size Hypothesis, whether males preferentially sing highly shared songs as predicted by the General Sharing Hypothesis, or whether use of highly shared songs is associated with phenotype as predicted by the Conditional Sharing Hypothesis. Contrary to the Repertoire Size Hypothesis, most males did not sing all songs equally often. Contrary to the General Sharing Hypothesis, we found no general tendency to overproduce highly shared songs. The degree to which males overproduced highly shared songs was repeatable across days, indicating consistent individual differences, and varied across neighbourhoods. Moreover, and consistent with the Conditional Sharing Hypothesis, older males were more likely to overproduce highly shared songs. If highly shared song is a conventional signal of aggression, with the threat of receiver retaliation maintaining honesty, older males may be more willing or able to risk conflict. Alternatively, males may learn which songs are effective signals for an area. Finally, age-related variation in vocal performance may shape the adaptive value of highly shared song.

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

  • Anderson R (2009) Operant conditioning and copulation solicitation display assays reveal a stable preference for local song by female swamp sparrows Melospiza georgiana. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 64:215–223

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson RC, Searcy WA, Nowicki S (2005) Partial song matching in an eastern population of song sparrows, Melospiza melodia. Anim Behav 69:189–196

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson RC, Searcy WA, Nowicki S (2008) Testing the function of song-matching in birds: responses of eastern male song sparrows Melospiza melodia to partial song-matching. Behaviour 145:347–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Arcese P (1987) Age, intrusion pressure and defense against floaters by territorial male song sparrows. Anim Behav 35:773–784

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker MC, Spitler-Nabors KJ, Bradley DC (1981) Early experience determines song dialect responsiveness of female sparrows. Science 214:819–821

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Baker MC, Bjerke T, Lampe H, Espmark Y (1986) Sexual response of female great tits to variation in size of males’ song repertoires. Am Nat 128:491–498

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ballentine B (2009) The ability to perform challenging songs predicts age and size in male swamp sparrows (Melospiza georgiana). Anim Behav 77:973–978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beecher MD (2008) Function and mechanisms of song learning in song sparrows. Adv Study Behav 38:167–225

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beecher MD, Brenowitz EA (2005) Functional aspects of song learning in songbirds. Trends Ecol Evol 30:143–149

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beecher MD, Campbell SE, Nordby JC (2000) Territory tenure in song sparrows is related to song sharing with neighbours, but not to repertoire size. Anim Behav 59:29–37

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Blumstein DT, Mennill DJ, Clemins P, Girod L, Yao K, Patricelli G, Deppe JL, Krakauer AH, Clark C, Cortopassi KA, Hanser SF, McCowan B, Ali AM, Kirscehl ANG (2011) Acoustic monitoring in terrestrial environments using microphone arrays: applications, technological considerations, and prospectus. J Appl Ecol 48:758–767

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Briefer E, Aubin T, Lehongre K, Rybak F (2008) How to identify dear enemies: the group signature in the complex song of the skylark Alauda arvensis. J Exp Biol 211:317–326

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Buchanan KL, Catchpole CK (1997) Female choice in the sedge warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus: multiple cues from song and territory quality. Proc R Soc Lond B 264:521–526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burt JM, Vehrencamp SL (2005) Dawn chorus as an interactive communication network. In: McGregor PK (ed) Animal communication networks. Cambridge University, Cambridge, pp 320–343

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Burt JM, Campbell SE, Beecher MD (2001) Song type matching as a threat: a test using interactive playback. Anim Behav 62:1163–1170

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catchpole CK (1980) Sexual selection and the evolution of complex songs among European warblers of the genus Acrocephalus. Behaviour 74:149–166

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Catchpole CK, Dittami J, Leisler B (1984) Differential responses to male song repertoires in female songbirds implanted with oestradiol. Nature 312:563–564

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chatterjee SH, Hadi AS, Price B (2000) Regression analysis by example. Wiley, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Clutton-Brock TH (1984) Reproductive effort and terminal investment in iteroparous animals. Am Nat 123:212–229

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foote JR, Barber CA (2007) High level of song sharing found in an eastern population of song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Auk 124:53–62

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gentner TQ, Hulse SH (2000) Female European starling preference and choice for variation in conspecific male song. Anim Behav 59:443–458

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gutzwiller KJ, Wiedenmann RT, Clements KL, Anderson SH (1994) Effects of human intrusion on song occurrence and singing consistency in subalpine birds. Auk 111:28–37

    Google Scholar 

  • Hasselquist D, Bensch S, von Schantz T (1996) Correlation between male song repertoire, extra-pair paternity and offspring survival in the great reed warbler. Nature 381:229–232

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hill CE, Akçay Ç, Campbell SE, Beecher MD (2011) Extrapair paternity, song, and genetic quality in song sparrows. Behav Ecol 22:73–81

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Horning CL, Beecher MD, Stoddard PK, Campbell SE (1993) Song perception in the song sparrow: importance of different parts of the song in song type classification. Ethology 94:46–58

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes M, Nowicki S, Searcy WA, Peters S (1998) Song type sharing in song sparrows: implications for repertoire function and song learning. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 42:437–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hughes M, Anderson RC, Searcy WA, Bottensek LM, Nowicki S (2007) Song type sharing and territory tenure in eastern song sparrows: implications for the evolution of song repertoires. Anim Behav 73:701–710

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hyman J, Hughes M, Searcy WA, Nowicki S (2004) Individual variation in the strength of territory defense in song sparrows: correlates of age, territory tenure, and neighbour aggressiveness. Behaviour 141:15–27

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irwin RE (1988) The evolutionary significance of behavioral development: the ontogeny and phylogeny of bird song. Anim Behav 36:814–824

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Irwin RE (1990) Directional sexual selection cannot explain variation in song repertoire size in the New World blackbirds (Icterinae). Ethology 85:212–224

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kiefer S, Sommer C, Scharff C, Kipper S (2010) Singing the popular songs? Nightingales share more song types with their breeding population in their second season than in their first. Ethology 116:619–626

    Google Scholar 

  • Kipper S, Kiefer S (2010) Age-related changes in birds’ singing styles: on fresh tunes and fading voices? Adv Stud Behav 41:77–118

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs JR (1977) The significance of song repertoires: the Beau Geste hypothesis. Anim Behav 25:475–478

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krebs JR, Ashcroft R, van Orsdol K (1981) Song matching in the great tit Parus major L. Anim Behav 29:918–923

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lessels CM, Boag PT (1987) Unrepeatable repeatabilities: a common mistake. Auk 104:116–121

    Google Scholar 

  • Logue DM, Forstmeier W (2008) Constrained performance in a communication network: implications for the function of song-type matching and for the evolution of multiple ornaments. Am Nat 172:34–41

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • MacDougall-Shackleton EA, Stewart KA, Potvin DA, Tennenhouse E (2009) The rich get richer: song complexity predicts song element sharing and song output in song sparrows Melospiza melodia. Anim Behav 78:141–146

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • MacDougall-Shackleton SA (1997) Sexual selection and the evolution of song repertoires. Curr Ornithol 14:81–124

    Google Scholar 

  • Marshall RC, Buchanan KL, Catchpole CK (2007) Song and female choice for extra-pair copulations in the sedge warbler Acrocephalus schoenobaenus. Anim Behav 73:629–635

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Maynard Smith J (1982) Evolution and the theory of games. Cambridge University, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Mennill DJ (2011) Individual distinctiveness in avian vocalizations and the spatial monitoring of behaviour. Ibis 153:235–238

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mennill DJ, Otter KA (2007) Status signalling and communication networks in black-capped chickadees: complex communication with a simple song. In: Otter K (ed) Ecology and behavior of chickadees and titmice. Oxford University, Oxford, pp 215–233

    Google Scholar 

  • Mennill DJ, Burt JM, Fristrup KM, Vehrencamp SL (2006) Accuracy of an acoustic location system for monitoring the position of duetting songbirds in tropical forest. J Acoust Soc Am 119:2832–2839

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nelson DA, Marler P (1994) Selection-based learning in bird song development. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 91:10498–10501

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Nielsen BMB, Vehrencamp SL (1995) Responses of song sparrows to song-type matching via interactive playback. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 37:109–117

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nordby JC, Campbell SE, Beecher MD (2002) Adult song sparrows do not alter their song repertoires. Ethology 108:39–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowicki S, Peters S, Podos J (1998) Song learning, early nutrition and sexual selection in songbirds. Am Zool 38:179–190

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowicki S, Searcy WA, Peters S (2002) Brain development, song learning and mate choice in birds: a review and experimental test of the “nutritional stress hypothesis”. J Comp Physiol A 188:1003–1014

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • O’Loghlen AL, Beecher MD (1999) Mate, neighbour and stranger songs: a female song sparrow perspective. Anim Behav 58:13–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Loghlen AL, Rothstein SI (1995) Culturally correct song dialects are correlated with male age and female song preferences in wild populations of brown-headed cowbirds. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 36:251–259

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pfaff JA, Zanette L, MacDougall-Shackleton SA, MacDougall-Shackleton EA (2007) Song repertoire size varies with HVC volume and is indicative of male quality in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Proc R Soc Lond B 274:2035–2040

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid JM, Arcese P, Cassidy A, Hiebert SM, Smith JNM, Stoddard PK, Marr AB, Keller LF (2004) Song repertoire size predicts initial mating success in male song sparrows, Melospiza melodia. Anim Behav 68:1055–1063

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reid JM, Arcese P, Cassidy ALEV, Marr AB, Smith JNM, Keller LF (2005) Hamilton and Zuk meet heterozygosity? Song repertoire size indicates inbreeding and immunity in song sparrows (Melospiza melodia). Proc R Soc Lond B 272:481–487

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searcy WA (1984) Song repertoire size and female preferences in song sparrows. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 14:281–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searcy WA, Beecher MD (2009) Song as an aggressive signal in songbirds. Anim Behav 78:1281–1292

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Searcy WA, Marler P (1981) A test for responsiveness to song structure and programming in female sparrows. Science 213:926–928

    Article  PubMed  CAS  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 

  • Searcy WA, Anderson RC, Nowicki S (2006) Bird song as a signal of aggressive intent. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 60:234–241

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slater PJB (1981) Chaffinch song repertoire: observations, experiments and a discussion of their significance. Z Tierpsychol 56:1–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stewart KA, MacDougall-Shackleton EA (2008) Local song elements indicate local genotypes and predict physiological condition in song sparrows Melospiza melodia. Biol Lett 4:240–242

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Tracy TT, Baker MC (1999) Geographic variation in syllables of house finch songs. Auk 116:666–676

    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 

  • Wilson PL, Towner MC, Vehrencamp SL (2000) Survival and song-type sharing in a sedentary subspecies of the song sparrow. Condor 102:355–363

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wingfield JC, Hegner RE, Dufty AM, Ball GF (1987) The “challenge hypothesis”: theoretical implications for patterns of testosterone secretion, mating systems, and breeding strategies. Am Nat 136:829–846

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Zar JH (1999) Biostatistical analysis, 4th edn. Prentice-Hall, Upper Saddle River

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank M. Conboy, F. Connor, M. Farquhar, J. Kewin, V. La, D. Potvin, S. Russell, Y. Sarquis Adamson, D. Wilson and L. Wilson for field assistance; S. MacDougall-Shackleton for comments; and the Queen’s University Biological Station as well as the Queen’s Biological Communication Centre for logistical support. Financial support was provided through Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) grants to DJM and EAMS; an Ontario Ministry of Research and Innovation Early Researcher Award to EAMS; Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Foundation grants to DJM and EAMS; and a University of Western Ontario Graduate Fellowship to JML. All procedures were approved by the Animal Use Subcommittee at the University of Western Ontario (protocol #2008-054).

Conflicts of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Ave, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada

    Janet M. Lapierre & Elizabeth A. MacDougall-Shackleton

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Ave, Windsor, Ontario, N9B 3P4, Canada

    Daniel J. Mennill

Authors
  1. Janet M. Lapierre
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Daniel J. Mennill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Elizabeth A. MacDougall-Shackleton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth A. MacDougall-Shackleton.

Additional information

Communicated by M. Hughes

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Lapierre, J.M., Mennill, D.J. & MacDougall-Shackleton, E.A. Spatial and age-related variation in use of locally common song elements in dawn singing of song sparrows Melospiza melodia: old males sing the hits. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 65, 2149–2160 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-011-1223-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-011-1223-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation