Audience effects in a group-living bird: How contact call rate is affected by vegetation and group size and composition.

ABSTRACT: Contact calling is a ubiquitous behavior of group-living animals. Yet in birds, beyond a general connection with group cohesion, its precise function is not well-understood, nor is it clear what stimulates changes in contact call rate. In an aviary experiment, we asked whether Swinhoe's White-eyes, Zosterops simplex, would regulate their own production of contact calls to maintain a specific rate at the group level. Specifically, we hypothesized that the sudden cessation of the group-level call rate could indicate an immediate predation threat, and we predicted that birds in smaller groups would call more to maintain a high call rate. We also investigated the effects of environmental characteristics, such as vegetation density, and social stimuli, such as the presence of certain ind

SUBMITTER: Meaux E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10037432 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature