Calling where it counts: subordinate pied babblers target the audience of their vocal advertisements

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dc.contributor.authorHumphries, David Jen_ZA
dc.contributor.authorFinch, Fiona Men_ZA
dc.contributor.authorBell, Matthew B Ven_ZA
dc.contributor.authorRidley, Amanda Ren_ZA
dc.date.accessioned2015-11-10T14:47:54Z
dc.date.available2015-11-10T14:47:54Z
dc.date.issued2015en_ZA
dc.description.abstractFor territorial group-living species, opportunities to reproduce on the natal territory can be limited by a number of factors including the availability of resources within a territory, access to unrelated individuals, and monopolies on reproduction by dominant group members. Individuals looking to reproduce are therefore faced with the options of either waiting for a breeding opportunity to arise in the natal territory, or searching for reproductive opportunities in non-natal groups. In the cooperatively breeding Southern pied babbler, Turdoides bicolor , most individuals who achieve reproductive success do so through taking up dominant breeding positions within non-natal groups. For subordinate pied babblers therefore, searching for breeding opportunities in non-natal groups is of primary importance as this represents the major route to reproductive success. However, prospecting (where individuals leave the group to search for reproductive opportunities within other groups) is costly and individuals rapidly lose weight when not part of a group. Here we demonstrate that subordinate pied babblers adopt an alternative strategy for mate attraction by vocal advertisement from within their natal territories. We show that subordinates focus their calling efforts on the edges of their territory, and specifically near boundaries with neighbouring groups that have potential breeding partners (unrelated individuals of the opposite sex). In contrast to prospecting, calling individuals showed no body mass loss associated with this behaviour, suggesting that calling from within the group may provide a ‘cheap’ advertisement strategy. Additionally, we show that subordinates use information regarding the composition of neighbouring groups to target the greatest number of potential mating partners.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationHumphries, D. J., Finch, F. M., Bell, M. B. V., & Ridley, A. R. (2015). Calling where it counts: subordinate pied babblers target the audience of their vocal advertisements. <i>PLoS One</i>, http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14832en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationHumphries, David J, Fiona M Finch, Matthew B V Bell, and Amanda R Ridley "Calling where it counts: subordinate pied babblers target the audience of their vocal advertisements." <i>PLoS One</i> (2015) http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14832en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationHumphries, D. J., Finch, F. M., Bell, M. B., & Ridley, A. R. (2015). Calling where it counts: subordinate pied babblers target the audience of their vocal advertisements. PloS one, 10(7), e0130795. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0130795en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Journal Article AU - Humphries, David J AU - Finch, Fiona M AU - Bell, Matthew B V AU - Ridley, Amanda R AB - For territorial group-living species, opportunities to reproduce on the natal territory can be limited by a number of factors including the availability of resources within a territory, access to unrelated individuals, and monopolies on reproduction by dominant group members. Individuals looking to reproduce are therefore faced with the options of either waiting for a breeding opportunity to arise in the natal territory, or searching for reproductive opportunities in non-natal groups. In the cooperatively breeding Southern pied babbler, Turdoides bicolor , most individuals who achieve reproductive success do so through taking up dominant breeding positions within non-natal groups. For subordinate pied babblers therefore, searching for breeding opportunities in non-natal groups is of primary importance as this represents the major route to reproductive success. However, prospecting (where individuals leave the group to search for reproductive opportunities within other groups) is costly and individuals rapidly lose weight when not part of a group. Here we demonstrate that subordinate pied babblers adopt an alternative strategy for mate attraction by vocal advertisement from within their natal territories. We show that subordinates focus their calling efforts on the edges of their territory, and specifically near boundaries with neighbouring groups that have potential breeding partners (unrelated individuals of the opposite sex). In contrast to prospecting, calling individuals showed no body mass loss associated with this behaviour, suggesting that calling from within the group may provide a ‘cheap’ advertisement strategy. Additionally, we show that subordinates use information regarding the composition of neighbouring groups to target the greatest number of potential mating partners. DA - 2015 DB - OpenUCT DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0130795 DP - University of Cape Town J1 - PLoS One LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2015 T1 - Calling where it counts: subordinate pied babblers target the audience of their vocal advertisements TI - Calling where it counts: subordinate pied babblers target the audience of their vocal advertisements UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14832 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/14832
dc.identifier.urihttp://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0130795
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationHumphries DJ, Finch FM, Bell MBV, Ridley AR. Calling where it counts: subordinate pied babblers target the audience of their vocal advertisements. PLoS One. 2015; http://hdl.handle.net/11427/14832.en_ZA
dc.language.isoengen_ZA
dc.publisherPublic Library of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentPercy FitzPatrick Institute of African Ornithologyen_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Scienceen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsThis is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.en_ZA
dc.rights.holder© 2015 Humphries et alen_ZA
dc.rights.urihttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0en_ZA
dc.sourcePLoS Oneen_ZA
dc.source.urihttp://journals.plos.org/plosoneen_ZA
dc.subject.otherAnimal sexual behavioren_ZA
dc.subject.otherAnimal signaling and communicationen_ZA
dc.titleCalling where it counts: subordinate pied babblers target the audience of their vocal advertisementsen_ZA
dc.typeJournal Articleen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceArticleen_ZA
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