Seasonal variation in dawn song characteristics in the common nightingale Export

@article{citeulike:3210847, abstract = {Many male temperate zone passerines show a marked peak of singing activity before sunrise. The two main functions of this so-called dawn chorus are mate attraction and territory defence. We examined how seasonal patterns of different dawn song characteristics were related to mating status and to the breeding cycle of females in the common nightingale, Luscinia megarhynchos. We investigated two measures of song output: song rate and percentage performance time. We also calculated the proportion of [`]whistle songs', a song category that is thought to be important in female choice. We predicted that if the main function of dawn singing in nightingales is to attract a social mate, then mated males should change their dawn singing behaviour after pair formation. In contrast, if dawn singing is mainly used in territory defence, we expected no difference in song traits between mated and unmated males throughout the season. We found that song rate and the proportion of whistle songs were low at the beginning of the season and did not predict future mating status. After arrival of females, all measures of dawn song performance remained largely constant throughout the breeding season, and we did not find significant differences in the seasonal variation between mated and unmated males. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that song at dawn is important to defend a territory throughout the breeding season.}, author = {Kunc, Hansjoerg P. and Amrhein, Valentin and Naguib, Marc}, citeulike-article-id = {3210847}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.02.010}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/B6W9W-4HBSH30-1/2/f6f437e27720321dd4d0d28628b3a567}, doi = {10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.02.010}, journal = {Animal Behaviour}, keywords = {dawn, nightingale, seasonal, song, variation}, month = {December}, number = {6}, pages = {1265--1271}, posted-at = {2008-09-09 21:30:41}, priority = {4}, title = {Seasonal variation in dawn song characteristics in the common nightingale}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.02.010}, volume = {70}, year = {2005} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3210847 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3210847 N2 - Many male temperate zone passerines show a marked peak of singing activity before sunrise. The two main functions of this so-called dawn chorus are mate attraction and territory defence. We examined how seasonal patterns of different dawn song characteristics were related to mating status and to the breeding cycle of females in the common nightingale, Luscinia megarhynchos. We investigated two measures of song output: song rate and percentage performance time. We also calculated the proportion of [`]whistle songs', a song category that is thought to be important in female choice. We predicted that if the main function of dawn singing in nightingales is to attract a social mate, then mated males should change their dawn singing behaviour after pair formation. In contrast, if dawn singing is mainly used in territory defence, we expected no difference in song traits between mated and unmated males throughout the season. We found that song rate and the proportion of whistle songs were low at the beginning of the season and did not predict future mating status. After arrival of females, all measures of dawn song performance remained largely constant throughout the breeding season, and we did not find significant differences in the seasonal variation between mated and unmated males. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that song at dawn is important to defend a territory throughout the breeding season. IS - 6 JF - Animal Behaviour EP - 1271 TI - Seasonal variation in dawn song characteristics in the common nightingale VL - 70 SP - 1265 KW - dawn KW - nightingale KW - seasonal KW - song KW - variation AU - Kunc, Hansjoerg AU - Amrhein, Valentin AU - Naguib, Marc PY - 2005/12// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.anbehav.2005.02.010 ER -