Potential for individual recognition in acoustic signals: a comparative study of two gulls with different nesting patterns.
We test relationships between structure of acoustic signal used for individual recognition and nesting ecology among two gulls: the black-headed gull (Larus ridibundus), in which chicks remain in the nest, and the slender-billed gull (L. genei), in which chicks leave the nest after hatching to form crèches. A striking difference between both species is the presence of two fundamental frequencies in the slender-billed gull's call and only one in the black-headed gull's call. Our study shows that the potential for individuality coding is more important in the species where the offspring experiment the greatest constraints--due to their nesting pattern--to identify their parents.
Mathevon
Nicolas
N
CNRS UMR 8620, NAMC, 91400 Orsay, France. mathevon@univ-st-etienne.fr
Charrier
Isabelle
I
Jouventin
Pierre
P
D000818:Animals; D001717:Birds / Q000502:physiology*; D001947:Breeding; D005260:Female; D008297:Male; D009425:Nesting Behavior; D012621:Seasons; D013018:Sound Spectrography; D013045:Species Specificity; D014828:Vocalization, Animal