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The day after: effects of vocal interactions on territory defence in nightingales
Author(s) -
SCHMIDT ROUVEN,
AMRHEIN VALENTIN,
KUNC HANSJOERG P.,
NAGUIB MARC
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of animal ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.134
H-Index - 157
eISSN - 1365-2656
pISSN - 0021-8790
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2656.2006.01182.x
Subject(s) - singing , nocturnal , intrusion , contest , psychology , social relation , communication , social psychology , ecology , biology , acoustics , physics , geochemistry , political science , law , geology
Summary1 Models on territory acquisition and tenure predict that territorial animals benefit by adjusting territorial defence behaviour to previous challenges they had experienced within the socially complex environment of communication networks. 2 Here, we addressed such issues of social cognition by investigating persisting effects of vocal contests on territory defence behaviour in nightingales Luscinia megarhynchos (Brehm). 3 Using interactive playback during nocturnal song of subjects, a rival was simulated to countersing either aggressively (by song overlapping) or moderately (by song alternating) from outside the subjects’ territory. Thereby, the time‐specific singing strategy provided an experimentally controlled source of information on the motivation of an unfamiliar rival. 4 Expecting that nightingales integrate information with time, the same rival was simulated to return as a moderately singing intruder on the following morning. 5 The results show that the vigour with which male nightingales responded to the simulated intrusion of an opponent during the day depended on the nature of the nocturnal vocal interaction experienced several hours before. 6 Males that had received the song overlapping playback the preceding night approached the simulated intruder more quickly and closer and sang more songs near the loudspeaker than did males that had received a song alternating playback. 7 This adjustment of territory defence strategies depending on information from prior signalling experience suggests that integrating information with time plays an important part in territory defence by affecting a male's decision making in a communication network.