Distress calls may honestly signal bird quality to predators Export

@article{citeulike:3210855, abstract = {In predator-prey interactions, both interactors may benefit from sharing information about prey vulnerability. We examined the relationship between calls used to discourage close predators (distress calls) and the health condition of the caller to test whether these signals are reliable indicators of prey quality. The structure of calls from captured lesser short-toed larks Calandrella rufescens was related to their body condition and T-cell-mediated immunocompetence. Birds in better nutritional and immunological condition utter harsher calls (i.e. they spread the call energy over a wider range of frequency) than birds in poorer conditions. Hence, the harshness of distress calls seems honestly to signal the health status of prey and thus their ability to escape, on which the predator might base its optimal foraging choice. Previous studies have investigated the honesty of songs that have evolved via sexual selection, but this is the first study, to our knowledge, the demonstrates a relationship between individual quality and a vocalization primarily shaped by natural selection.}, author = {Laiolo, Paola and Tella, Jos\'{e} L. and Carrete, Martina and Serrano, David and L\'{o}pez, Guillermo}, citeulike-article-id = {3210855}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2004.0239}, day = {7}, doi = {10.1098/rsbl.2004.0239}, journal = {Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences}, keywords = {bird, calls, distress, honest, signal}, month = {December}, number = {0}, pages = {S513--S515}, posted-at = {2008-09-09 21:34:56}, priority = {4}, title = {Distress calls may honestly signal bird quality to predators}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2004.0239}, volume = {271}, year = {2004} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3210855 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3210855 N2 - In predator-prey interactions, both interactors may benefit from sharing information about prey vulnerability. We examined the relationship between calls used to discourage close predators (distress calls) and the health condition of the caller to test whether these signals are reliable indicators of prey quality. The structure of calls from captured lesser short-toed larks Calandrella rufescens was related to their body condition and T-cell-mediated immunocompetence. Birds in better nutritional and immunological condition utter harsher calls (i.e. they spread the call energy over a wider range of frequency) than birds in poorer conditions. Hence, the harshness of distress calls seems honestly to signal the health status of prey and thus their ability to escape, on which the predator might base its optimal foraging choice. Previous studies have investigated the honesty of songs that have evolved via sexual selection, but this is the first study, to our knowledge, the demonstrates a relationship between individual quality and a vocalization primarily shaped by natural selection. IS - 0 JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences EP - S515 TI - Distress calls may honestly signal bird quality to predators VL - 271 SP - S513 KW - bird KW - calls KW - distress KW - honest KW - signal AU - Laiolo, Paola AU - Tella, José AU - Carrete, Martina AU - Serrano, David AU - López, Guillermo PY - 2004/12/07/ UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2004.0239 ER -