Alarm calls of the Southern House Wren Troglodytes musculus: variation with nesting stage and predator model |
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Authors: | Mariana Fasanella and Gustavo J Fernández |
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Institution: | (1) Departamento de Ecolog?a, Gen?tica y Evoluci?n, Laboratorio de Ecolog?a y Comportamiento Animal, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Int. Guiraldes s/n, Pabell?n 2 Ciudad Universitaria, C1428EHA Buenos Aires, Argentina; |
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Abstract: | Alarm calls given by parents when risk is detected during nesting may be considered a form of parental defense. We analyzed
variations in callings of breeding pairs of the Southern House Wren Troglodytes musculus during the nesting cycle and when faced with different predator models. Nesting birds were exposed to stuffed models at different
nesting stages (early and late during incubation, and nests with younger and older nestlings). Nests were also exposed to
different predator models where the calling response of breeding adults and acoustic structure variations of the calls were
analyzed. The presence of a predator model increased the parents’ alarm calls along the nesting stage. This result supports
the hypothesis that the higher the nest reproductive value, the higher the nest defense performed by the Southern House Wren.
However, it also supports the notion that alarm calls could be used by parents to silence nestlings and reduce their detectability.
Alarm calls also varied according to the predator model presented. We suggest that alarm calls variations of Southern House
Wrens could encode information about the kind of predator and the risk envisaged through variations of call rates. |
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