Context-dependent functions of avian duets revealed by microphone-array recordings and multispeaker playback.

ABSTRACT: In many tropical animals, male and female breeding partners combine their songs to produce vocal duets [1-5]. Duets are often so highly coordinated that human listeners mistake them for the songs of a single animal [6]. Behavioral ecologists rank duets among the most complex vocal performances in the animal kingdom [7, 8]. Despite much research, the evolutionary significance of duets remains elusive [9], in part because many duetting animals live in tropical habitats where dense vegetation makes behavioral observation difficult or impossible. Here, we evaluate the duetting behavior of rufous-and-white wrens (Thryothorus rufalbus) in the humid forests of Costa Rica. We employ two innovative technical approaches to study duetting behavior: an eight-microphone acoustic location system capable

SUBMITTER: Mennill DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2610673 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature