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Inter- and intra-season stability of vocal individual signatures in a social seabird, the crested auklet

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Abstract

Vocal plasticity due to changes of social context is well documented in passerine birds. In other bird species, the impact of social environment changes on the whole vocal structure and on individual specific signatures remains largely unexplored. Here, we assessed inter- and intra-season stability of specific features of individual signatures in advertising calls of crested auklet (Aethia cristatella) males and tested the effects of pair mate and territory changes on the stability of the calls. The crested auklet is a highly social seabird of the North Pacific that breeds in dense colonies, and its individuals switch pair mates and territories with probability of 25–54%. During summer 2008–2010, we recorded 464 trumpet calls from 21 individually marked males and determined their pair mates and positions of their displaying places on a breeding colony of Talan Island, Sea of Okhotsk. We found that strong individual specific features of crested auklet trumpet calls stay stable not only during one season but also from year to year. However, we failed to find any effects of pair mate or territory changes on individual signatures of crested auklet trumpet calls. Our results suggest that crested auklets can potentially use their individually specific trumpet calls to form long-term social bonds both between pair mates and between neighbors; however, future experimental studies should test whether this is indeed the case.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Alexander V. Andreev for providing opportunity for the work on the Biological Station on Talan Island and logistic support, Ilya A. Volodin and Elena V. Volodina for financial support and constructive comments and discussion, Elena U. Golubova and Sergey P. Kharitonov for help with data gathering, Marina V. Kholodova and Pavel A. Sorokin for help with genetic sexing analysis, and Eugenia V. Bragina for manuscript reading and for consultations regarding the statistical analysis. During our work, we adhered to the “Guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioral research and teaching” (Anim. Behav. 65: 249–255) and to the laws of Russian Federation, the country where the research was conducted. This study was funded by the Grant of the President RF (grant MK-1562-2010.4).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Faculty of Biology, Lomonosov Moscow State University, Vorobievy Gory, 1/12, Moscow, 119991, Russia

    Anna V. Klenova

  2. Severtsov Institute of Ecology and Evolution, Russian Academy of Science, Leninsky pr., 33, Moscow, 119071, Russia

    Victor A. Zubakin

  3. Russian Bird Conservation Union, Shosse Enthuziastov, 60/1, Moscow, 111123, Russia

    Victor A. Zubakin & Elena V. Zubakina

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  1. Anna V. Klenova
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  2. Victor A. Zubakin
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Correspondence to Anna V. Klenova.

Appendix A

Appendix A

Variables

Factor 1

Factor 2

Factor 3

Factor 4

Factor 5

Factor 6

Factor 7

Factor 8

Factor 9

Factor 10

Factor 11

Factor 12

Factor 13

Factor 14

Factor 15

Dur_Intr

0.024

0.112

0.232

0.175

−0.176

−0.737

−0.358

0.102

0.044

0.227

−0.028

0.201

0.059

0.097

0.025

Dur_I2

−0.654

−0.005

0.193

0.103

−0.235

−0.409

−0.051

0.060

0.204

0.225

−0.049

0.090

−0.016

−0.146

0.216

Fmin_I2

0.512

−0.220

0.259

−0.230

0.344

−0.089

0.380

0.217

0.137

−0.155

−0.108

0.342

0.132

−0.000

0.108

Fmax_I2

0.789

−0.229

0.195

−0.321

0.125

−0.229

0.036

0.079

−0.187

−0.030

−0.129

−0.094

0.005

0.059

0.134

FM_I2

0.680

−0.144

0.068

−0.261

−0.090

−0.243

−0.237

−0.058

−0.355

0.076

−0.093

−0.384

−0.092

0.079

0.099

Dur_I1

−0.487

0.343

−0.044

0.175

−0.044

−0.039

0.407

−0.224

−0.008

−0.173

−0.494

−0.128

0.072

0.065

0.235

Fmin_I1

−0.220

−0.746

−0.067

−0.343

0.216

0.064

0.014

−0.254

0.085

0.261

−0.032

−0.038

0.182

0.027

0.015

Fmax_I1

−0.446

−0.765

0.321

−0.065

0.156

0.011

−0.018

−0.074

−0.036

−0.057

−0.024

0.005

−0.099

0.054

0.013

FM_I1

−0.374

−0.174

0.555

0.341

−0.045

−0.066

−0.045

0.214

−0.160

−0.415

0.006

0.055

−0.375

0.046

−0.000

M_rate

−0.597

0.393

−0.140

−0.439

0.229

−0.259

0.201

0.078

−0.034

−0.069

0.130

−0.140

−0.002

−0.038

−0.042

Dur_MP

−0.183

0.361

−0.174

0.071

0.342

−0.188

0.403

−0.154

−0.489

0.179

0.359

0.141

−0.083

−0.037

0.153

Dur_M1

−0.665

0.171

−0.020

−0.061

−0.009

−0.479

0.248

0.041

0.068

−0.072

−0.044

−0.264

0.070

−0.034

−0.301

Fmin_M1

−0.195

−0.457

−0.431

−0.099

−0.346

0.126

0.146

0.534

−0.179

0.145

−0.097

−0.024

−0.032

−0.202

0.037

Fmax_M1

−0.128

0.036

0.349

−0.555

−0.609

0.159

0.051

−0.102

−0.099

0.006

0.009

0.044

−0.048

−0.324

0.054

FM_M1

0.067

0.406

0.616

−0.330

−0.166

0.014

−0.084

−0.519

0.075

−0.116

0.087

0.053

−0.009

−0.073

0.009

Dur_M2

−0.537

0.356

−0.241

−0.397

0.148

0.071

−0.358

0.054

−0.245

−0.004

−0.176

0.189

−0.005

0.093

−0.024

Fmin_M2

−0.404

−0.729

−0.038

−0.232

0.125

−0.045

0.104

−0.188

0.100

0.166

−0.041

0.041

−0.289

0.082

−0.036

Fmax_M2

−0.592

−0.710

0.209

−0.010

0.179

0.005

−0.081

−0.085

−0.094

−0.010

0.032

−0.015

0.047

−0.006

0.009

FM_M2

−0.494

−0.296

0.393

0.264

0.146

0.062

−0.260

0.086

−0.278

−0.218

0.102

−0.073

0.428

−0.110

0.059

Dur_M3

−0.142

0.126

0.037

−0.683

0.130

−0.023

−0.097

0.335

0.352

−0.200

0.262

−0.163

−0.007

0.101

0.200

Fmin_M3

0.040

−0.421

−0.492

−0.155

−0.559

−0.206

0.115

−0.143

−0.092

−0.275

0.117

0.141

0.110

0.177

−0.023

Fmax_M3

−0.186

0.068

0.548

−0.225

−0.489

0.159

0.308

0.164

−0.162

0.160

0.045

0.066

0.134

0.354

−0.107

FM_M3

−0.140

0.398

0.732

0.004

0.198

0.266

0.078

0.215

−0.013

0.326

−0.075

−0.083

−0.017

0.051

−0.042

Dur_TC

−0.023

0.495

−0.070

0.502

0.594

0.245

0.085

0.093

0.158

−0.079

0.129

−0.065

0.036

0.030

−0.058

Eigenvalues

4.97

3.91

2.85

2.3

1.77

1.46

1.24

1.09

0.9

0.81

0.65

0.61

0.53

0.45

0.38

Cumulative percentage

19.9

35.5

46.9

56.1

63.2

69.1

74.0

78.4

82.0

85.2

87.8

90.3

92.4

94.2

95.7

  1. Loadings of the variables are shown for the first 15 extracted factors from 20. The most representative variables of each factor are marked in bold
  2. For abbreviations, see Fig. 1

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Klenova, A.V., Zubakin, V.A. & Zubakina, E.V. Inter- and intra-season stability of vocal individual signatures in a social seabird, the crested auklet. acta ethol 15, 141–152 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10211-011-0120-y

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