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Song sharing correlates with lifetime social pairing success but not territory tenure in the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow

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Abstract

Imitative song learning in birds often results in the formation of vocal dialects or local song neighborhoods in which males in close proximity share very similar songs. If song sharing confers a selective advantage due to intra-sexual competition or inter-sexual mate choice, song sharing should enhance the singer’s territory tenure or lifetime pairing success. We tested this in a migratory population of the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys pugetensis, in which some territory neighbors share whole songs. Song sharing with territory neighbors in the first year on territory did not correlate with territory tenure but correlated positively with social pairing success throughout a male’s lifetime when length of territory tenure was controlled. Thus, song sharing in this migratory population does not appear to confer a benefit in male–male interactions, at least as measured by the length of territory tenure. However, males that share songs do benefit from higher lifetime pairing success. Combined with the data available for other species, it appears that intra- and inter-sexual selection may have stronger effects on song sharing in sedentary and migratory populations, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Oregon State Parks Department, the staff at Bullard’s Beach State Park, and the Port of Bandon for granting permission to work on their properties. Mike Webster, Henrik Brumm, and two reviewers made helpful comments on the manuscript. We thank the NSF for financial support (IBN04-15842).

Ethical standards

These observations were made in accordance with State of Oregon and United States laws. Procedures were approved by the Ohio State University IACUC Protocol 2000A005.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics, Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 1315 Kinnear Road, Columbus, OH, 43212, USA

    Douglas A. Nelson & Angelika Poesel

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  1. Douglas A. Nelson
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  2. Angelika Poesel
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Correspondence to Douglas A. Nelson.

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Communicated by H. Brumm

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Nelson, D.A., Poesel, A. Song sharing correlates with lifetime social pairing success but not territory tenure in the Puget Sound white-crowned sparrow. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 67, 993–1000 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1525-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00265-013-1525-6

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