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Bioacoustic Articles in Behaviour 147 no.1 & 2

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Subject: Bioacoustic Articles in Behaviour 147 no.1 & 2
From: "Frank Veit" <>
Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 21:03:46 +0100
Abstracts below.

Goutte, S, NM Kime, TF Argo IV & MJArgo (2010) Calling strategies of male tungara frogs in response to dynamic playback. Behaviour 147: 65-83.

Marks, EJ, AG Rodrigo & DH Brunton (2010) Ecstatic display calls of the Adelie penguin honestly predict male condition and breeding success. Behaviour 147: 165-184.

Staaterman, ER, T Claverie & SN Patek (2010) Disentangling defense: the function of spiny lobster sounds. Behaviour 147: 235-258.

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Behaviour 147-1 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/beh/2010/00000147/00000001 Behaviour 147-2 http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/brill/beh/2010/00000147/00000002
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Abstracts:

Goutte, S, NM Kime, TF Argo IV & MJArgo (2010) Calling strategies of male tungara frogs in response to dynamic playback. Behaviour 147: 65-83.

Túngara frogs produce calls of varying complexity that consist of a whine followed by 0-7 chucks. In previous studies using static playbacks, males increase chuck number in response to calls with 1 versus 0 chucks but not in response to 2 or 3 versus 1 chuck. Here we use dynamic playback in which an automated interaction program counts the number of chucks present in a call and responds according to a specified calling strategy which determines the number of chucks in the response call. Males added progressively more chucks in response to the models' strategies of de-escalate, match or escalate; there was a significant difference in the focal males' responses to the de-escalate versus the escalate strategies. Similarly, males changed their calling strategy in response to the de-escalate strategy of the model. There was no evidence of change in calling patterns, as estimated by entropy, among treatments and between experimental and field data. Males produced significantly more chucks in these experiments than in the field, but in both contexts the mean chuck number is low and never approaches the maximum observed in nature. These data suggest that males are cost-sensitive when it comes to adding chucks and that they are more influenced by vocal competitors that de-escalate rather than escalate number of chucks. These are patterns of calling not previously revealed in studies using static playbacks, and this study is another demonstration of the usefulness of dynamic playback in studies of animal communication.


Marks, EJ, AG Rodrigo & DH Brunton (2010) Ecstatic display calls of the Adelie penguin honestly predict male condition and breeding success. Behaviour 147: 165-184.

The Adélie penguin (Pygoscelis adeliae) breeds in large, noisy Antarctic colonies and has evolved a communication system of complex intra- and inter-sexual visual and vocal behaviours. The Ecstatic Display Call (EDC) given by males whilst at the breeding colony is composed of introductory beats, short repeated syllables and a climactic long syllable. Here, we show that spectral qualities of the short syllables of the EDC can predict body condition and breeding success and suggest that in addition to its role in territory defence, the EDC may function as an honest signal of male quality for female mate choice. In the short repeated syllables frequency modulation, mean frequency, and pitch were all significantly lower in birds of better condition, with frequency modulation changing concomitantly with changing condition during the breeding season. Furthermore, during the period of mate attraction, a male's frequency modulation predicted both his latency to pair and likelihood of successfully breeding. Due to the long incubation fasts in this species we propose that female Adélie penguins may reliably use frequency modulation of the EDC as a potentially honest signal of early season male condition and the likelihood of a successful breeding outcome.


Staaterman, ER, T Claverie & SN Patek (2010) Disentangling defense: the function of spiny lobster sounds. Behaviour 147: 235-258.

The function of anti-predator signalling is a complex, and often-overlooked, area of animal communication. The goal of this study was to examine the behavioural function of an antipredator acoustic signal in the ocean. We observed the acoustic and defensive behaviours of California spiny lobsters (Palinuridae: Panulirus interruptus) to a model predator, model conspecific and blank pole, both in the tank and in the field. We found that P. interruptus make a 'rasp' sound once physically contacted by an aggressor, rather than during the approach. The model predator and conspecific elicited no discernable changes in defensive behaviour, but the responses by the lobsters to aggressors in the tank versus field were distinct. Our results indicate that the spiny lobster's rasp is used as a startle or aposematic signal, which may be coupled with visual aposematism of their spines. Alternatively, the rasp may function as a vibratory escape mechanism or as an acoustic analogue to eye-spots. This study offers insights into the role of acoustic signalling in the marine environment and demonstrates a central role for sound production in spiny lobster ecology.

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