Publication
Title
Songbirds never forget : long-lasting behavioural change triggered by a single playback event
Author
Abstract
Many behavioural studies rely on playback experiments. While it is known that songbirds decrease behavioural responses after short-term repeated stimulation, long-term behavioural changes due to playbacks are unknown. We studied the response to playbacks in a free-living songbird in the long-term, while also studying the repeatability of the behaviour. Locomotor behaviour (a proxy of aggressiveness) decreased one year after first exposure to a single playback. Song response, however, remained consistent, suggesting that these two behaviours may provide different information. Locomotor behaviour was less repeatable than the song response to playback, the latter showing significant between-years repeatability. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to report long-term decrease in response to playbacks in a songbird, and that some aspects of the response to playback are repeatable. Similar studies in other species or populations of the great tit are important, to examine the generality of our findings.
Language
English
Source (journal)
Behaviour : an international journal of comparative ethology. - Leiden, 1948, currens
Publication
Leiden : Brill , 2015
ISSN
0005-7959 [print]
1568-539X [online]
DOI
10.1163/1568539X-00003278
Volume/pages
152 :9 (2015) , p. 1277-1290
ISI
000356492700007
Full text (Publisher's DOI)
Full text (publisher's version - intranet only)
UAntwerpen
Faculty/Department
Research group
Project info
Song in songbirds as a model system for studying complex behaviours: an integration of ecological, physiological and neurobiological data in an evolutionary framework.
Causes and consequences of variation in complex secondary sexual song characteristics: a longitudinal and multidisciplinary approach by integrating behavioural, physiological and molecular data.
Causes and consequences of variation in complex secondary sexual song characteristics: a longitudinal and multidisciplinary approach by integrating behavioural, physiological and molecular data.
Publication type
Subject
Affiliation
Publications with a UAntwerp address
External links
Web of Science
Record
Identifier
Creation 03.09.2015
Last edited 09.10.2023
To cite this reference