Song degradation in the hole-nesting pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca: Implications for polyterritorial behaviour in contrasting habitat-types

TY - JOUR

T1 - Song degradation in the hole-nesting pied flycatcher Ficedula hypoleuca: Implications for polyterritorial behaviour in contrasting habitat-types

AU - Lampe, Helene M.

AU - Larsen, Ole Næsbye

AU - Pedersen, Simon Boel

AU - Dabelsteen, Torben

N1 - Keywords: sound degradation, pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca, polyterritorial, holenesting.

PY - 2007

Y1 - 2007

N2 - In the hole-nesting pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca, a male may become polyterritorialafter attracting a primary female. However, the female may recognize her mate's songand attack other females that associate with him. Differences in sound degradation amongstdifferent habitats and within nestboxes may, therefore, be important for male and female behavioursince the male may have to move outside female hearing range to avoid harassment,and the female may have to listen for the mate to be able to locate competing females. Thismay be difficult from inside the nest cavity.We used ten common song elements to test sounddegradation with distance in a mixed coniferous and a mixed deciduous forest, measuringbroadcast sounds both inside and outside nestboxes. On average, sound degradation increasedto a larger extent with distance in the deciduous than the coniferous forest. This is consistentwith the shorter polyterritorial distances of flycatchers in the deciduous forest. Furthermore,song degradation was stronger inside the nestboxes. Being inside may, therefore, reduce afemale's possibility of detecting and recognizing songs. This may be one reason why femalepied flycatchers spend little time within the nest cavity before incubation unlike some otherhole nesting species.

AB - In the hole-nesting pied flycatcher, Ficedula hypoleuca, a male may become polyterritorialafter attracting a primary female. However, the female may recognize her mate's songand attack other females that associate with him. Differences in sound degradation amongstdifferent habitats and within nestboxes may, therefore, be important for male and female behavioursince the male may have to move outside female hearing range to avoid harassment,and the female may have to listen for the mate to be able to locate competing females. Thismay be difficult from inside the nest cavity.We used ten common song elements to test sounddegradation with distance in a mixed coniferous and a mixed deciduous forest, measuringbroadcast sounds both inside and outside nestboxes. On average, sound degradation increasedto a larger extent with distance in the deciduous than the coniferous forest. This is consistentwith the shorter polyterritorial distances of flycatchers in the deciduous forest. Furthermore,song degradation was stronger inside the nestboxes. Being inside may, therefore, reduce afemale's possibility of detecting and recognizing songs. This may be one reason why femalepied flycatchers spend little time within the nest cavity before incubation unlike some otherhole nesting species.

M3 - Journal article

SN - 0005-7959

VL - 144

SP - 1161

EP - 1178

JO - Behaviour

JF - Behaviour

ER -