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Habitat structure and alarm call dialects in Gunnison's prairie dog (Cynomys gunnisoni)
Authors:Perla, Bianca S.   Slobodchikoff, C. N.
Affiliation:a Grand Canyon Wildlands Council, PO Box 1594, Flagstaff, AZ 86002, USA b Northern Arizona University, Department of Biological Sciences, Flagstaff, AZ 86011-5650, USA
Abstract:We examined the relationship between habitat structure and alarmcall characteristics in six colonies of Gunnison's prairiedogs (Cynomys gunnisoni) near Flagstaff, Arizona, before andafter a mid-summer vegetation change. We found significantdifferences in alarm call characteristics between colonies,confirming the existence of alarm call dialects. Differencesin frequency components but not temporal components of callswere associated with differences in habitat structure. Playbackexperiments revealed that differences in alarm call structureaffected acoustic transmission of calls through the local habitat.Thus, we identify habitat structure as one factor that maycontribute to alarm call differences between colonies of Gunnison'sprairie dogs. Relationships between call characteristics andhabitat structure changed over seasons. Playback experimentssuggested that this changing relationship could reflect a changein the purpose of the alarm call between early and late summer.Some components of alarm calls seem tailored for attenuationover short distances in the early summer but for long-distancetransmission at summer's end. These differences might arisebecause pups stay close to their natal burrows in the earlysummer and disperse throughout a colony in late summer. Alternatively,these differences in alarm call transmission between seasonscould be caused by the increase in vegetation in the mid-summer.At the end of the summer prairie dogs could be more dependenton long-distance antipredator calls to offset the loss of visibilitycaused by the increase in vegetation in the late summer.
Keywords:alarm calls   communication   C. gunnisoni   dialects   habitat structure   prairie dogs.
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