Fowl communicate the size, speed and proximity of avian stimuli through graded structure in referential alarm calls

Animal Behaviour

Volumn 83, Issue 2, 2012, Pages 535-544

  Wilson, David R ^a,b   Evans, Christopher S ^a  

^a MACQUARIE UNIVERSITY   (Australia)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WINDSOR   (Canada)

Author keywords

Alarm; Ground squirrel; Information; Meerkat; Motivational signal; Nonlinearity; Referential signal; Response urgency; Suricate; Vervet monkey

Indexed keywords

ALARM SIGNAL; BIRD; CALLING BEHAVIOR; CONSPECIFIC; FORAGING BEHAVIOR; NONLINEARITY; PRIMATE; RODENT; WILD POPULATION;

ANIMALIA; AVES; CERCOPITHECUS; GALLUS GALLUS; SCIURIDAE; SPERMOPHILUS; SURICATA SURICATTA;

EID: 84856091013     PISSN: 00033472     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2011.11.033     Document Type: Article

References (63)

1. Bayly K.L., Evans C.S. Dynamic changes in alarm call structure: a strategy for reducing conspicuousness to avian predators?. Behaviour 2003, 140:353-369.
2. Blumstein D.T., Armitage K.B. Alarm calling in yellow-bellied marmots: I. The meaning of situationally variable alarm calls. Animal Behaviour 1997, 53:143-171.
3. Blumstein D.T., Chi Y.Y. Scared and less noisy: glucocorticoids are associated with alarm call entropy. Biology Letters 2011, published online 5 October 2011. 10.1098/rsbl.2011.0832.
4. Blumstein D.T., Verneyre L., Daniel J.C. Reliability and the adaptive utility of discrimination among alarm callers. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2004, 271:1851-1857.
5. Bradbury J.W., Vehrencamp S.L. Principles of Animal Communication 1998, Sinauer, Sunderland, Massachusetts.
6. Brenowitz E.A. Neighbor call amplitude influences aggressive behavior and intermale spacing in choruses of the pacific treefrog (Hyla regilla). Ethology 1989, 83:69-79.
7. Brumm H., Ritschard M. Song amplitude affects territorial aggression of male receivers in chaffinches. Behavioral Ecology 2011, 22:310-316.
8. Cabanac M., Aizawa S. Fever and tachycardia in a bird (Gallus domesticus) after simple handling. Physiology & Behavior 2000, 69:541-545.
9. Cheney D.L., Seyfarth R.M. Assessment of meaning and the detection of unreliable signals by vervet monkeys. Animal Behaviour 1988, 36:477-486.
10. Cheney D.L., Seyfarth R.M. How Monkeys See the World 1990, University of Chicago Press, London.
11. Conover M.R. Stimuli eliciting distress calls in adult passerines and response of predators and birds to their broadcast. Behaviour 1994, 131:19-37.
12. Darwin C. The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals 1872, J.Murray, London.
13. Driver P.M., Humphries D.A. The significance of the high-intensity alarm call in captured passerines. Ibis 1969, 111:243-244.
14. Evans C.S. Referential signals. Perspectives in Ethology 1997, 99-143. Plenum, New York. D.H. Owings, M.D. Beecher, N.S. Thompson (Eds.).
15. Evans C.S., Marler P. Female appearance as a factor in the responsiveness of male chickens during anti-predator behaviour and courtship. Animal Behaviour 1992, 43:137-145.
16. Evans C.S., Marler P. Language and animal communication: parallels and contrasts. Comparative Approaches to Cognitive Science. Complex Adaptive Systems 1995, 341-382. MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. H.L. Roitblat, J.A. Meyer (Eds.).
17. Evans C.S., Evans L., Marler P. On the meaning of alarm calls: functional reference in an avian vocal system. Animal Behaviour 1993, 46:23-38.
18. Evans C.S., Macedonia J.M., Marler P. Effects of apparent size and speed on the response of chickens, Gallus gallus, to computer-generated simulations of aerial predators. Animal Behaviour 1993, 46:1-11.
19. Fallow P.M., Magrath R.D. Eavesdropping on other species: mutual interspecific understanding of urgency information in avian alarm calls. Animal Behaviour 2010, 79:411-417.
20. Fichtel C., Hammerschmidt K. Responses of redfronted lemurs to experimentally modified alarm calls: evidence for urgency-based changes in call structure. Ethology 2002, 108:763-777.
21. Fichtel C., Kappeler P.M. Anti-predator behavior of group-living Malagasy primates: mixed evidence for a referential alarm call system. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 2002, 51:262-275.
22. FitzGibbon C.D. Acost to individuals with reduced vigilance in groups of Thomson's gazelles hunted by cheetahs. Animal Behaviour 1989, 37:508-510.
23. Furrer R.D., Manser M.B. The evolution of urgency-based and functionally referential alarm calls in ground-dwelling species. American Naturalist 2009, 173:400-410.
24. Griesser M. Referential calls signal predator behavior in a group-living bird species. Current Biology 2008, 18:69-73.
25. Griesser M. Mobbing calls signal predator category in a kin group-living bird species. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2009, 276:2887-2892.
26. Gyger M., Marler P., Pickert R. Semantics of an avian alarm call system: the male domestic fowl, Gallus domesticus. Behaviour 1987, 102:15-40.
27. Hare J.F., Atkins B.A. The squirrel that cried wolf: reliability detection by juvenile Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 2001, 51:108-112.
28. Howland H.C. Optimal strategies for predator avoidance: relative importance of speed and maneuverability. Journal of Theoretical Biology 1974, 47:333-350.
29. Jurisevic M.A., Sanderson K.J. Acomparative analysis of distress call structure in Australian passerine and non-passerine species: influence of size and phylogeny. Journal of Avian Biology 1998, 29:61-71.
30. Karakashian S.J., Gyger M., Marler P. Audience effects on alarm calling in chickens (Gallus gallus). Journal of Comparative Psychology 1988, 102:129-135.
31. Kiriazis J., Slobodchikoff C.N. Perceptual specificity in the alarm calls of Gunnison's prairie dogs. Behavioural Processes 2006, 73:29-35.
32. Klump G.M., Shalter M.D. Acoustic behaviour of birds and mammals in the predator context. Zeitschrift für Tierpsychologie 1984, 66:189-226.
33. Kokolakis A., Smith C.L., Evans C.S. Aerial alarm calling by male fowl (Gallus gallus) reveals subtle new mechanisms of risk management. Animal Behaviour 2010, 79:1373-1380.
34. Lampe H.M., Balsby T.J.S., Espmark Y.O., Dabelsteen T. Does twitter song amplitude signal male arousal in redwings (Turdus iliacus)?. Behaviour 2010, 147:353-365.
35. Leavesley A.J., Magrath R.D. Communicating about danger: urgency alarm calling in a bird. Animal Behaviour 2005, 70:365-373.
36. Macedonia J.M., Evans C.S. Variation among mammalian alarm call systems and the problem of meaning in animal signals. Ethology 1993, 93:177-197.
37. Manser M.B. The acoustic structure of suricates' alarm calls varies with predator type and the level of response urgency. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2001, 268:2315-2324.
38. Manser M.B., Bell M.B., Fletcher L.B. The information that receivers extract from alarm calls in suricates. Proceedings of the Royal Society B 2001, 268:2485-2491.
39. Marler P. Characteristics of some animal calls. Nature 1955, 176:6-8.
40. Marler P., Evans C.S., Hauser M.D. Animal signals: motivational, referential, or both?. Nonverbal Vocal Communication: Comparative and Developmental Approaches 1992, 66-86. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge. H. Papousek, U. Jurgens, M. Papousek (Eds.).
41. Morton E.S. On the occurrence and significance of motivation-structural rules in some bird and mammal sounds. American Naturalist 1977, 111:855-869.
42. Owings D.H., Hennessy D.F. The importance of variation in sciurid visual and vocal communication. The Biology of Ground-dwelling Squirrels: Annual Cycles, Behavioral Ecology, and Sociality 1984, 169-200. University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln. J.O. Murie, G.R. Michener (Eds.).
43. Plummer E.M., Goller F. Singing with reduced air sac volume causes uniform decrease in airflow and sound amplitude in the zebra finch. Journal of Experimental Biology 2008, 211:66-78.
44. Puppe B., Schön P.C., Tuchscherer A., Manteuffel G. Castration-induced vocalisation in domestic piglets, Sus scrofa: complex and specific alterations of the vocal quality. Applied Animal Behaviour Science 2005, 95:67-78.
45. Rendall D. Acoustic correlates of caller identity and affect intensity in the vowel-like grunt vocalizations of baboons. Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 2003, 113:3390-3402.
46. Scherer K.R. Vocal affect signalling: a comparative approach. Advances in the Study of Behavior 1985, 189-244. Academic Press, New York. J. Rosenblatt, C. Beer, M. Busnel, P.J.B. Slater (Eds.).
47. Searcy W.A., Nowicki S. Signal interception and the use of soft song in aggressive interactions. Ethology 2006, 112:865-872.
48. Seyfarth R.M., Cheney D.L., Marler P. Monkey responses to three different alarm calls: evidence of predator classification and semantic communication. Science 1980, 210:801-803.
49. Siebert K., Langbein J., Schön P.-C., Tuchscherer A., Puppe B. Degree of social isolation affects behavioural and vocal response patterns in dwarf goats (Capra hircus). Applied Animal Behaviour Science 2011, 131:53-62.
50. Soltis J., Leighty K.A., Wesolek C.M., Savage A. The expression of affect in African elephant (Loxodonta africana) rumble vocalizations. Journal of Comparative Psychology 2009, 123:222-225.
51. Templeton C.N., Greene E., Davis K. Allometry of alarm calls: black-capped chickadees encode information about predator size. Science 2005, 308:1934-1937.
52. Walker B.G., Boersma P.D., Wingfield J.C. Habituation of adult Magellanic penguins to human visitation as expressed through behavior and corticosterone secretion. Conservation Biology 2006, 20:146-154.
53. Warkentin K.J., Keeley A.T.H., Hare J.F. Repetitive calls of juvenile Richardson's ground squirrels (Spermophilus richardsonii) communicate response urgency. Canadian Journal of Zoology 2001, 79:569-573.
54. Wheeler B.C. Production and perception of situationally variable alarm calls in wild tufted capuchin monkeys (Cebus apella nigritus). Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 2010, 64:989-1000.
55. Wilson D.R., Evans C.S. Mating success increases alarm-calling effort in male fowl, Gallus gallus. Animal Behaviour 2008, 76:2029-2035.
56. Wilson D.R., Evans C.S. Female fowl (Gallus gallus) do not prefer alarm-calling males. Behaviour 2010, 147:525-552.
57. Wilson D.R., Hare J.F. The adaptive utility of Richardson's ground squirrel (Spermophilus richardsonii) short-range ultrasonic alarm signals. Canadian Journal of Zoology 2006, 84:1322-1330.
58. Wilson D.R., Bayly K.L., Nelson X.J., Gillings M., Evans C.S. Alarm calling best predicts mating and reproductive success in ornamented male fowl, Gallus gallus. Animal Behaviour 2008, 76:543-554.
59. Wilson D.R., Nelson X.J., Evans C.S. Seizing the opportunity: subordinate male fowl respond rapidly to variation in social context. Ethology 2009, 115:996-1004.
60. Wilson D.R., McDonald P.G., Evans C.S. Mechanisms of mate investment in the polygamous fowl, Gallus gallus. Ethology 2010, 116:755-762.
61. Wood S.R., Sanderson K.J., Evans C.S. Percpeption of terrestrial and aerial alarm calls by honeyeaters and falcons. Australian Journal of Zoology 2000, 48:127-134.
62. Zuberbühler K. Survivor signals: the biology and psychology of animal alarm calling. Advances in the Study of Behavior 2009, 40:277-322.
63. Zuberbühler K., Cheney D.L., Seyfarth R.M. Conceptual semantics in a nonhuman primate. Journal of Comparative Psychology 1999, 113:33-42.