Behavioral Ecology Advance Access published online on June 29, 2007
Behavioral Ecology, doi:10.1093/beheco/arm054
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Song matching, overlapping, and switching in the banded wren: the sender's perspective
Laboratory of Ornithology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA
Address correspondence to S.L. Vehrencamp. E-mail: slv8{at}cornell.edu. M.L. Hall is now at the Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, D-78315 Radolfzell, Germany. C.D. Depeine is now at the Laboratory of Comparative Ethology, National Institute of Child Health and Development, Poolesville, MD 20837, USA. A.H. Dalziell is now at the School of Botany and Zoology, Australian National University, Canberra ACT, Australia.
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Abstract |
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Interpreting receiver responses to on-territory playback of aggressive signals is problematic. One solution is to combine such receiver-perspective experiments with a sender-perspective experiment that allows subjects to demonstrate how their choice of singing strategies is associated with their approach behavior. Here we report the results of a sender-perspective study on the banded wren (Thryothorus pleurostictus) and combine information on context and results of previous receiver-perspective experiments to clarify function. Territorial males were presented with a 5-min playback consisting of song types present in their repertoire. We assessed the degree to which the subjects' song-matching rate, overlapping rate, and song-type versatility were correlated with their approach latency, closeness of approach, latency to first retreat, and time spent close to the speaker. Male age, breeding stage, and features of the playback stimuli were also considered. Song matching was associated with rapid and close approach, consistent with the receiver-perspective interpretation of type matching as a conventional signal of aggressive motivation. Overlapping was associated with earlier retreat and together with the aversive receiver response to our previous overlapping playback experiment suggests that overlapping is a defensive withdrawal signal. High versatility was associated with slower first retreat from the speaker and high levels of reciprocal matching between subject and playback. Males with fledglings sang with particularly low versatility and approached the speaker aggressively, whereas males with nestlings overlapped more and retreated quickly. Finally, older males matched more but overlapped less.
Key words: aggressive motivation, path analysis, playback design, signal function, singing versatility, song-type repertoires.
Received 1 October 2006; revised 16 March 2007; accepted 3 May 2007.
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