Response of Male Dusky Warblers (Phylloscopus fuscatus) to Invaders with Different Song Length
Response of Male Dusky Warblers (Phylloscopus fuscatus) to Invaders with Different Song Length
Laikun Ma1,2, Jiaojiao Wang1, Shanshan Lyu2 and Jianhua Hou1*
ABSTRACT
Aggressive signals in songbirds have received extensive attention. Several song features, such as the syllable rate, song matching, song type switching, and song overlap, are used in aggressive signalling in songbirds. However, in the territorial dusky warbler (Phylloscopus fuscatus), which includes trills in its song, it is unclear whether song length meets the context, prediction and response criteria of aggressive signal needs further study. We studied the responses of males to invaders with different threat levels by playing back songs of various length during the breeding season of the dusky warbler in Saihanba National Forest Park. We observed no significant differences in physical and song behaviours in male dusky warblers in response to simulated intruders with different song length. However, there was a tendency for both the physical and song behaviours of males to enhance as the song length of intruders grew. In addition, the mean song length of territorial males increased during competition with intruders, and maximum song length was positively related to a stronger song response by territorial males. Our results suggest that dusky warbler song length does not meet the response criteria for classification as an aggression signalling mechanism. However, our results suggest that song length may be an indicator of the fighting ability of male dusky warbler and may function in short-term communication.
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