Parent-offspring and inter-offspring responses to conspecific versus heterospecific distress calls in 2 sympatric birds  

作　　者：Yuxin JIANG Jingru HAN Ziqi ZHANG Xiangyang CHEN Canchao YANG 

机构地区：[1]Ministry of Education Key Laboratory for Ecology of Tropical Islands,College of Life Sciences,Hainan Normal University,Haikou 571158,China

出　　处：《Current Zoology》2022年第6期700-707,共8页动物学报（英文版）

基　　金：Financial support was provided by the Hainan Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China(320CXTD437 and 2019RC189 to C.Y.);the National Natural Science Foundation of China(31672303 to C.Y.).

摘　　要：Distress calls,as a type of alarm call,play important roles in expressing bodily condition and conveying information concerning predation threats.In this study,we examined the communication via distress calls in parent–offspring and inter-offspring interactions.First,we used playback of chick distress calls of 2 sympatric breeders,the vinous-throated parrotbill Sinosuthora webbiana and the oriental reed warbler Acrocephalus orientalis,to the adults/chicks of these 2 species,respectively,and measured the responses of conspecifics or heterospecifics.The playback-to-chicks experiment showed that both species of chicks reduced the number of begging calls and begging duration time as a response to conspecific/heterospecific distress calls compared with natural begging and background noise controls.However,reed warbler chicks also reduced beak opening frequency in the response to conspecific distress calls compared with other playback stimuli.Second,the results of the playback-to-adults experiment showed that reed warbler adults could eavesdrop on distress calls of conspecific neighbors and sympatric heterospecifics.Furthermore,the nest-leaving behavior of reed warblers did not differ significantly when they heard the distress calls of conspecifics or parrotbills.Finally,reed warbler adults responded to heterospecific distress calls more quickly than to conspecific distress calls,and parrotbill adults presented the same response.Our results supported the warnkin hypothesis and show that chick distress calls play an important role in conveying risk and the condition of chicks to enhance individual fitness.In addition,we also found that eavesdropping on distress calls is a congenital behavior that begins in the chick stage.

关 键 词：acoustic communication call recognition chick-chick system eavesdropping parent-offspring system 

分 类 号：Q95[生物学—动物学]