Abstract
Bird song is thought to have a function in both inter- and intra-sexual contexts with song complexity serving as an honest signal of male quality. Theory predicts that males use repertoire sizes to estimate rivals’ fighting ability. Here we tested whether element repertoire size plays a role in an intra-sexual context in the Common Blackbird Turdus merula, a songbird with a large repertoire. In a territory intrusion playback experiment, we broadcast Common Blackbird song with different element repertoire sizes to territorial males. The test birds did not respond differently to the different repertoire sizes. This was also the case when we considered the test birds’ own repertoire sizes in the analysis. Thus, we found no evidence for the hypothesis that males use repertoire size for estimating rivals’ fighting force. However, this does not exclude the possibility that repertoire size plays a role in different intra-sexual contexts in Common Blackbirds. In the discussion, we address alternative scenarios.
Zusammenfassung
Vogelgesang spielt sowohl in interals auch intra-sexuellen Kontexten eine Rolle, wobei angenommen wird, dass die Gesangskomplexität die Qualität des singenden Männchens anzeigt. Männchen könnten die Konkurrenzstärke von Rivalen an der Größe ihres Gesangsrepertoires abschätzen. Wir testeten hier an der Amsel Turdus merula, einem Singvogel mit einem großen Repertoire, ob die Größe des Elementrepertoires eine Rolle in einem intra-sexuellen Kontext spielt. In einem Playback-Experiment mit territorialen Männchen spielten wir Amselgesang mit verschiedenen Elementrepertoiregrößen ab. Die Testvögel reagierten nicht unterschiedlich auf die verschiedenen Repertoiregrößen, was auch dann der Fall war, wenn wir die Repertoiregröße der Testtiere selber berücksichtigten. Folglich fanden wir keine Bestätigung der Hypothese, dass Männchen gesangliche Repertoiregrößen benutzen, um die Konkurrenzstärke von Rivalen einzuschätzen. Dies schließt jedoch nicht die Möglichkeit aus, dass Repertoiregrößen bei Amseln in anderen intra-sexuellen Kontexten eine Rolle spielen. Wir diskutieren deshalb verschiedene alternative Szenarien.
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Acknowledgments
We thank T. Sacher, T. Coppack and F. Bairlein for collaboration and O. Hüppop with the team of the Vogelwarte Helgoland and C. Horn for assistance during the field work. We also thank I. Teschke for language improvement and two anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments. The study was funded by a combined PhD fellowship from NaFöG (Promotionsstipendium nach dem Nachwuchsförderungsgesetz des Landes Berlin, Germany), SNAK (Graduate School on Sense organs, Nerve systems, Behaviour and Communication, funded by the Danish Research Agency) and the University of Copenhagen to N.H. and a framework grant from the Danish Research Council for Nature and Universe (no. 272-07-0477) to T.D. This study meets the guidelines for the treatment of animals in behavioural research and teaching of the Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour and complies with laws in Germany and Denmark.
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Hesler, N., Mundry, R. & Dabelsteen, T. Does song repertoire size in Common Blackbirds play a role in an intra-sexual context?. J Ornithol 152, 591–601 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0618-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-010-0618-5