Abstract
Among territorial birds, the number of conspecific neighbours sets the social context of communication. There have been many investigations of vocal behaviour and its important role in territory defense and mate attraction in birds; however, the effect of the density of conspecific neighbours on avian communication has received little attention. In this study, we reviewed the literature on the influence of local density on vocal communication in birds, exploring how the number of conspecific neighbours influences avian vocal behaviour, by conducting a literature review following the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) in two databases: Web of Science and Scopus. We also included additional articles from a more flexible search in Google Scholar. We found 19 studies of birds that included data on vocal behaviour in relation to the number of conspecific neighbours. The majority of these studies (14 of 19) showed that local density influences avian vocal behaviour. Overall, these studies revealed an effect of local density of conspecifics on song rate (expressed as song rate, syllable rate, solo song rate, or singing rate). Other vocal behaviours that were shown to vary with local density included song-type switching, song duration, peak frequency, and song variation. Most studies focused on temperate-zone species where males are the predominant singers. Our results reveal a bias towards the study of male songs in the context of local density, with very few studies on female song; this corresponds with a historical geographical focus on temperate birds. We present experimental design suggestions for future investigations, including predictions for males and females of tropical and temperate species. Finally, we argue that more research on this topic is needed, and that investigations of vocal communication will benefit from further study of the influence of density on avian vocal behaviour.
Zusammenfassung
Verhaltenskonsequenzen von Artgenossen-Nachbarn: Eine systematische Literaturübersicht über die Auswirkungen der lokalen Dichte auf die vokale Kommunikation von Vögeln. In territorialen Vögeln setzt die Anzahl konspezifischer Artgenossen in der Nachbarschaft dessen Gesangsverhalten fest. Obwohl es diesbezüglich viele Untersuchungen im Zusammenhang mit Revierverteidigung und Partnerattraktion bei Vögeln gibt, wurde der Einfluss der Dichte von konspezifischen Artgenossen auf den Vogelgesang wenig beachtet. Diese Studie untersuchte die Literatur über den Einfluss der lokalen Dichte auf das Gesangsverhalten von Vögeln und den Einfluss der Anzahl konspezifischer Arten in der Nachbarschaft auf deren Kommunikation. Die Literaturstudie wurde nach den Richtlinien des Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) in zwei Datenbanken durchgeführt: Web of Science und Scopus. Wir haben auch zusätzliche Artikel aus einer flexibleren Suche in Google Scholar eingefügt. Wir fanden neunzehn Studien über das Gesangsverhalten von Vögeln im Zusammenhang mit der Anzahl von lokalen konspezifischen Artgenossen. Die meisten Studien (14 von 19) zeigten, dass die lokale Dichte die Gesangsrate (ausgedrückt als Gesangsrate, Silbenrate, Sologesangsrate oder Singrate) von Vögeln beeinflusst. Andere Gesangsverhalten, die mit der lokalen Dichte variierten, umfassten den Wechsel von Gesangstypen, die Gesangsdauer, die Höchstfrequenz und die Gesangsvariation. Die meisten Studien konzentrierten sich auf Arten der gemäßigten Zone, wo überwiegend Männchen singen. Daraus resultierend ergaben unsere Ergebnisse eine Bevorzugung der Untersuchung des Gesangsverhaltens männlicher Vögel im Kontext der lokalen Dichte durch den geografischen Fokus wissenschaftlicher Artikel auf Vögel der gemäßigten Zonen. Mit dieser Studie stellen wir zukünftige Untersuchungsvorschläge, einschließlich Vorhersagen für Männchen und Weibchen tropischer und gemäßigter Vogelarten. Weitere Forschung zu diesem Thema ist notwendig, da Studien zu dem Gesangsverhalten von Vögeln von weiteren Untersuchungen zu dem Einfluss der lokalen Dichte auf den Vogelgesang profitieren würden.
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Acknowledgements
The authors thank Mitacs Canada, and supporting partners Birds Canada and Wildlife Acoustics, for a grant supporting NVS. The authors thank the Guanacaste Dry Forest Conservation Fund for support to NVS. The authors thank NSERC for Discovery Grant support to DJM. The authors thank Kian Lanzenstiel for translating the abstract into German. The authors thank J. Aubin, S. Dobney, and D. Zapata for comments on an early version of this manuscript, and two anonymous reviewers who provided thoughtful feedback that improved the manuscript.
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NVS conceived of the idea, design the study, collected the data, wrote the first version of the manuscript, and edited subsequent versions of the manuscript. DJM conceived of the idea, and wrote and edited multiple versions of the manuscript.
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Sánchez, N.V., Mennill, D.J. Behavioural consequences of conspecific neighbours: a systematic literature review of the effects of local density on avian vocal communication. J Ornithol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-024-02188-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-024-02188-7