Does song complexity matter in an intra-sexual context in common blackbirds

TY - CONF

T1 - Does song complexity matter in an intra-sexual context in common blackbirds

AU - Hesler, Nana

AU - Sacher, Thomas

AU - Coppack, Timothy

AU - Mundry, Roger

AU - Dabelsteen, Torben

N1 - Sider: 281

PY - 2008

Y1 - 2008

N2 - Bird song is thought to be subject of both inter- and intra-sexual selection and song complexity a signal of male quality. One aspect of song complexity, repertoire size, correlates with estimates of male quality in several passerine species.  The Common Blackbird (Turdus merula) has a large repertoire of different song patterns which are organized in a complex structure without fixed song types. Previous studies found that Blackbirds show large individual differences in repertoire sizes and use these repertoires in both inter- and intra-sexual contexts. In this study we investigate the signal value of repertoire size in Blackbirds in an intra-sexual context with the hypothesis, that males use the repertoire sizes of rivals as a cue to assess their quality. We conducted playback experiments in which we broadcast songs of conspecifics with different repertoire sizes to the test birds. The responses will be discussed in relation to the test birds own repertoire sizes.

AB - Bird song is thought to be subject of both inter- and intra-sexual selection and song complexity a signal of male quality. One aspect of song complexity, repertoire size, correlates with estimates of male quality in several passerine species.  The Common Blackbird (Turdus merula) has a large repertoire of different song patterns which are organized in a complex structure without fixed song types. Previous studies found that Blackbirds show large individual differences in repertoire sizes and use these repertoires in both inter- and intra-sexual contexts. In this study we investigate the signal value of repertoire size in Blackbirds in an intra-sexual context with the hypothesis, that males use the repertoire sizes of rivals as a cue to assess their quality. We conducted playback experiments in which we broadcast songs of conspecifics with different repertoire sizes to the test birds. The responses will be discussed in relation to the test birds own repertoire sizes.

M3 - Paper

T2 - European Conference on Behavioural Biology

Y2 - 18 July 2008 through 20 July 2008

ER -