Investissement parental et reconnaissance acoustique entre parents et jeunes chez une espèce d'oiseaux chanteurs, le rougequeue noir, Phoenicurus ochruros

J'ai étudié les relations entre parents et leurs jeunes chez un oiseau chanteur principalement monogame, le rougequeue noir, Phoenicurus ochruros. Après l'envol soit la nichée sera divisée entre les deux parents et dans ce cas le mâle aura tendance à s'occuper de moins de jeunes que la femelle, soit le mâle ne participera qu'occasionnellement aux soins post-envol. Ces résultats soutiennent l'idée que la division de la nichée est issue d'un conflit d'intérêts entre les deux sexes. La division de la nichée offre un contexte naturel permettant d'étudier les capacités de reconnaissance acoustique chez les oiseaux chanteurs. Grâce à un test de choix il a été montré que chaque parent est capable de discriminer entre les cris de quémande alimentaire des jeunes nourris préférentiellement et ceux des jeunes nourris par l'autre parent. Il est suggéré que la reconnaissance acoustique entre parents et jeunes chez les oiseaux chanteurs peut être plus répandue que ne l'on pensait jusqu'à présent.I studied parental investment and parent-offspring acoustic communication in a mainly monogamous songbird, the black redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros. After fledging, two patterns of parental care can be distiguished. In most cases broods are divided and each parent preferentially feeds one or more chicks, males tending to feed less young than females. Alternatively, mates provide no post-fledging care or only occasionally feed their chicks. These results support the idea that brood division is a consequence of sexual conflict. The existence of two categories of offspring in relation to one parent provides a natural context enabling to investigate songbirds acoustic recognition abilities. Within divided broods, each parent is able to acoustically discriminate between the begging caps of its preferentially fed chicks and the caps of chicks fed by the other parent. This result suggests that parentoffspring acoustic recognition in songbirds may be more widespread than previously thought.NANTERRE-BU PARIS10 (920502102) / SudocSudocFranceF

Investissement parental et reconnaissance acoustique entre parents et jeunes chez une espèce d'oiseaux chanteurs, le rougequeue noir, Phoenicurus ochruros

J'ai étudié les relations entre parents et leurs jeunes chez un oiseau chanteur principalement monogame, le rougequeue noir, Phoenicurus ochruros. Après l'envol soit la nichée sera divisée entre les deux parents et dans ce cas le mâle aura tendance à s'occuper de moins de jeunes que la femelle, soit le mâle ne participera qu'occasionnellement aux soins post-envol. Ces résultats soutiennent l'idée que la division de la nichée est issue d'un conflit d'intérêts entre les deux sexes. La division de la nichée offre un contexte naturel permettant d'étudier les capacités de reconnaissance acoustique chez les oiseaux chanteurs. Grâce à un test de choix il a été montré que chaque parent est capable de discriminer entre les cris de quémande alimentaire des jeunes nourris préférentiellement et ceux des jeunes nourris par l'autre parent. Il est suggéré que la reconnaissance acoustique entre parents et jeunes chez les oiseaux chanteurs peut être plus répandue que ne l'on pensait jusqu'à présent.I studied parental investment and parent-offspring acoustic communication in a mainly monogamous songbird, the black redstart, Phoenicurus ochruros. After fledging, two patterns of parental care can be distiguished. In most cases broods are divided and each parent preferentially feeds one or more chicks, males tending to feed less young than females. Alternatively, mates provide no post-fledging care or only occasionally feed their chicks. These results support the idea that brood division is a consequence of sexual conflict. The existence of two categories of offspring in relation to one parent provides a natural context enabling to investigate songbirds acoustic recognition abilities. Within divided broods, each parent is able to acoustically discriminate between the begging caps of its preferentially fed chicks and the caps of chicks fed by the other parent. This result suggests that parentoffspring acoustic recognition in songbirds may be more widespread than previously thought.NANTERRE-BU PARIS10 (920502102) / SudocSudocFranceF

Learning to sing like your neighbours: a long-term field study in the black redstart Phoenicurus ochruros

International audienceBoth humans and oscine songbirds learn their vocalizations by imitating mainly conspecific adults. In oscine songbirds, song learning programs are diverse; for example, some species can only learn during the first months before their songs crystalize while others can learn new songs throughout their lives. We investigated the lifetime evolution of male song repertoires in a migratory population of a territorial songbird, the black redstart, by recording colour-ringed individuals during eight consecutive breeding seasons (2015-2022). Our study population is situated in a French mountain village of the Forez mountains with scattered patches of human buildings which constitute the breeding habitat of the black redstarts. We previously described the existence of micro-dialects between the different male clusters of 2-8 territorial birds. Males (n=24) were recorded at their arrival from migration for their first breeding season as well as during the following years. Most males sang the full local dialect upon arrival and those individuals kept their song repertoires stable throughout their lifetime (2 to 8 years). Those who shared only a few or no songs with their neighbours when they first established breeding territories (9/24), changed their repertoires mostly at their arrival for their second breeding season. Three types of modifications were observed: 1) addition of shared songs (4 individuals), 2) selective attrition of unshared songs (6 individuals) and 3) syllable structure adjustments (3 individuals). All the repertoire changes resulted in an increase in song sharing with neighbours. Our results suggest that black redstarts are able to adapt their song repertoires to their social environment

Learning to sing like your neighbours: a long-term field study in the black redstart Phoenicurus ochruros

International audienceBoth humans and oscine songbirds learn their vocalizations by imitating mainly conspecific adults. In oscine songbirds, song learning programs are diverse; for example, some species can only learn during the first months before their songs crystalize while others can learn new songs throughout their lives. We investigated the lifetime evolution of male song repertoires in a migratory population of a territorial songbird, the black redstart, by recording colour-ringed individuals during eight consecutive breeding seasons (2015-2022). Our study population is situated in a French mountain village of the Forez mountains with scattered patches of human buildings which constitute the breeding habitat of the black redstarts. We previously described the existence of micro-dialects between the different male clusters of 2-8 territorial birds. Males (n=24) were recorded at their arrival from migration for their first breeding season as well as during the following years. Most males sang the full local dialect upon arrival and those individuals kept their song repertoires stable throughout their lifetime (2 to 8 years). Those who shared only a few or no songs with their neighbours when they first established breeding territories (9/24), changed their repertoires mostly at their arrival for their second breeding season. Three types of modifications were observed: 1) addition of shared songs (4 individuals), 2) selective attrition of unshared songs (6 individuals) and 3) syllable structure adjustments (3 individuals). All the repertoire changes resulted in an increase in song sharing with neighbours. Our results suggest that black redstarts are able to adapt their song repertoires to their social environment

Individual benefits of nestling begging: experimental evidence for an immediate effect, but no evidence for a delayed effect

The evolutionary stability of honest signalling by offspring is thought to require that begging displays be costly, so the costs and benefits of begging—and whether they are experienced individually or by the whole brood—are crucial to understanding the evolution of begging behaviour. Begging is known to have immediate individual benefits (parents distribute more food to intensely begging individuals) and delayed brood benefits (parents increase provisioning rate to the brood), but the possibility of delayed individual benefits (previous begging affects the current distribution of food) has rarely, if ever, been researched. We did this using playback of great tit Parus major chick begging and a control sound from either side of the nest. Male parents fed chicks close to the speaker more when great tit chick begging, but not other stimuli, was played back. In contrast, there was no effect of playback at the previous visit on the chicks that male parents fed. We have thus demonstrated an immediate individual benefit to begging, but found no evidence of a delayed individual benefit in this species

Discrimination entre les chants du micro-dialecte local et les chants étrangers chez un oiseau chanteur, le rougequeue noir, Phoenicurus ochruros

International audienceLes dialectes vocaux ont été décrits chez plusieurs espèces animales telles que les humains, les cétacés, les chauves-souris et les oiseaux. Ils se caractérisent par une variation géographique des signaux vocaux avec des frontières marquées entre les régions et peuvent s’étendre sur plusieurs centaines de kilomètres à moins de dix kilomètres. Dans le cas où ces dialectes sont fortement restreints spatialement, le terme de micro-dialectes est employé. Les dialectes chez les oiseaux ont été largement étudiés, depuis qu’ils ont été décrits pour la première fois en 1962, par Marler et Tamura, chez le bruant à couronne blanche (Zonotrichia leucophrys). Chez la plupart des espèces testées, les mâles et les femelles réagissent plus fortement aux chants locaux qu’aux chants étrangers. Néanmoins, la plupart des études ont été menées sur des espèces dont les dialectes s’étendent sur de grandes distances, tandis que les espèces à micro-dialectes restent à ce jour peu étudiées. Nous avons testé la capacité de discriminer entre les chants locaux et les chants étrangers chez une espèce territoriale d’oiseaux chanteurs qui présente des micro-dialectes, le rougequeue noir. Nous avons suivi une population migratrice située dans un village des monts du Forez (Loire 42). Seuls les mâles chantent et leurs territoires se superposent aux bâtiments, regroupés en hameaux. Cette sélection spécifique de l’habitat conduit à de petits voisinages (2-8 mâles), avec un important partage de chants entre voisins (micro-dialectes). Nous avons testé 26 mâles au cours de deux saisons de reproduction consécutives (2021 et 2022) grâce au test de repasse. Nous avons diffusé deux stimuli vocaux non-familiers : un chant du micro- dialecte local et un chant d’un micro-dialecte étranger. Nous avons émis l’hypothèse que les mâles seront plus agressifs envers les chants du micro-dialecte local. Nous avons mesuré les réponses comportementales des mâles pendant ce test. Seul le comportement d’approche du haut-parleur, durant la diffusion, présente une différence entre les deux traitements : les mâles ont passé plus de temps près de celui-ci pour le chant local, alors qu’ils ont effectué un plus grand nombre de vols au-dessus du haut-parleur pour le chant étranger. Ces résultats suggèrent que les rougequeues noirs mâles sont capables de distinguer les micro-dialectes locaux des micro-dialectes étrangers, en cohérence avec la littérature existante sur les espèces à dialectes plus étendus. Des études complémentaires demeurent toutefois nécessaires pour comprendre davantage l’éventuelle fonction des micro-dialectes chez le rougequeue noir, et plus largement chez les oiseaux

Male black redstarts, Phoenicurus ochruros, react more aggressively to songs of local versus foreign micro-dialects

International audienceVocal dialects have been described in several taxa such as humans, cetaceans, bats and birds. They are characterized by geographic variation in vocal signals and can range from several hundred kilometres to less than two kilometres (micro-dialects). Most studies reported stronger responses by both males and females to local compared to foreign songs but up to date species with micro-dialects remain poorly studied. We studied a migratory population of a territorial songbird, the black redstart, in a French mountain village. Only males sing and they defend territories around farms and houses. The patchy distribution of the buildings leads to small neighbourhoods (2-8 males), with important song sharing between neighbours but low song sharing between different building patches (micro-dialects). We broadcast during the 2021 and 2022 breeding seasons (April-May) two non-familiar vocal stimuli: a song of the local micro-dialect and a song of a foreign micro-dialect. We hypothesized that birds’ territorial responses will be stronger towards the songs of the local micro-dialect. In line with our prediction males (n=26) spent more time near the loudspeaker and performed less flights over the speaker for the local song treatment.These results suggest that male black redstarts discriminate between local and foreign micro-dialects, consistently with the existing literature on species with broader dialects. Further studies are needed to understand the function of the micro-dialects in the black redstart and more broadly in songbirds

Male black redstarts, Phoenicurus ochruros, react more aggressively to songs of local versus foreign micro-dialects

International audienceVocal dialects have been described in several taxa such as humans, cetaceans, bats and birds. They are characterized by geographic variation in vocal signals and can range from several hundred kilometres to less than two kilometres (micro-dialects). Most studies reported stronger responses by both males and females to local compared to foreign songs but up to date species with micro-dialects remain poorly studied. We studied a migratory population of a territorial songbird, the black redstart, in a French mountain village. Only males sing and they defend territories around farms and houses. The patchy distribution of the buildings leads to small neighbourhoods (2-8 males), with important song sharing between neighbours but low song sharing between different building patches (micro-dialects). We broadcast during the 2021 and 2022 breeding seasons (April-May) two non-familiar vocal stimuli: a song of the local micro-dialect and a song of a foreign micro-dialect. We hypothesized that birds’ territorial responses will be stronger towards the songs of the local micro-dialect. In line with our prediction males (n=26) spent more time near the loudspeaker and performed less flights over the speaker for the local song treatment.These results suggest that male black redstarts discriminate between local and foreign micro-dialects, consistently with the existing literature on species with broader dialects. Further studies are needed to understand the function of the micro-dialects in the black redstart and more broadly in songbirds

Foreign-local microdialect discrimination in a songbird, the black redstart

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Neighbour Recognition in a Territorial Songbird: Individual Recognition or Acoustic Similarity between Rival Songs?

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