Communication networks and neighborhoods in song birds — ASN Events

Communication networks and neighborhoods in song birds (#364)

Marc Naguib 1
  1. Wageningen University, Wageningen, Netherlands

Territorial animals commonly maintain “dear-enemy” relations with neighbors, leading to stable neighborhoods. Individuals here connect to each other spatially or through signals, leading to social and communication networks. Such neighbour relations and networks can be beneficial, providing a safe-guard to neighborhood threats, such as when unfamiliar rivals attempt to establish a territory within existing neighborhoods. Yet, to what extend territorial conflicts of one individual affect the neighborhood and how such effects link to male behaviour and personality is not well understood. This presentation integrates results fromsong analyses and playback experiments in neighborhoods of nightingales (Luscinia megarhynchos) and of personality-typed wild great tits (Parus major). During playbacks we monitored spatial movements of neighboring males by standard radiotracking or by using digital Encounternet radiotags, which allowed automatized simultaneous tracking of multiple individuals. We show in which way males sing and respond spatially when a neighbor is threatened, proving new insights in the structuring of neighborhoods in territorial animals.