Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition

Abstract Vocal communication of woodpeckers has been relatively little studied so far, mostly because majority of species use drumming to communicate. Our recent study on the Middle Spotted Woodpecker revealed that a call which is specific for floaters is individually distinctive and functions as a...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Ewa Węgrzyn, Wiktor Węgrzyn, Konrad Leniowski
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/344cd3b2148647e3a27aa574c796d165
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:344cd3b2148647e3a27aa574c796d165
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:344cd3b2148647e3a27aa574c796d1652021-11-28T12:17:19ZContact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition10.1038/s41598-021-02034-32045-2322https://doaj.org/article/344cd3b2148647e3a27aa574c796d1652021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-02034-3https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract Vocal communication of woodpeckers has been relatively little studied so far, mostly because majority of species use drumming to communicate. Our recent study on the Middle Spotted Woodpecker revealed that a call which is specific for floaters is individually distinctive and functions as a vocal signature of unpaired individuals. The aim of the current study is to investigate whether a contact call of paired territory owners of the same species enables discrimination of individuals and their sex. Acoustic analyses revealed that the call is individually distinctive and experimental approach confirmed that woodpeckers are able to distinguish between a contact call of their partner and a stranger. We also found that the contact call shows significant sex differences. Interestingly, the acoustic parameter enabling sex identification is different than the parameters coding individual variability of the call. The design of a call so that its first part would code the identity of an individual and the second part would code its sex presents an effective and fine-tuned communication system. The results of our study also suggest that the contact call of paired Middle Spotted Woodpeckers may be useful for conservation biologists as a tool supporting other census methods.Ewa WęgrzynWiktor WęgrzynKonrad LeniowskiNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 11, Iss 1, Pp 1-10 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Ewa Węgrzyn Wiktor Węgrzyn Konrad Leniowski Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition
description	Abstract Vocal communication of woodpeckers has been relatively little studied so far, mostly because majority of species use drumming to communicate. Our recent study on the Middle Spotted Woodpecker revealed that a call which is specific for floaters is individually distinctive and functions as a vocal signature of unpaired individuals. The aim of the current study is to investigate whether a contact call of paired territory owners of the same species enables discrimination of individuals and their sex. Acoustic analyses revealed that the call is individually distinctive and experimental approach confirmed that woodpeckers are able to distinguish between a contact call of their partner and a stranger. We also found that the contact call shows significant sex differences. Interestingly, the acoustic parameter enabling sex identification is different than the parameters coding individual variability of the call. The design of a call so that its first part would code the identity of an individual and the second part would code its sex presents an effective and fine-tuned communication system. The results of our study also suggest that the contact call of paired Middle Spotted Woodpeckers may be useful for conservation biologists as a tool supporting other census methods.
format	article
author	Ewa Węgrzyn Wiktor Węgrzyn Konrad Leniowski
author_facet	Ewa Węgrzyn Wiktor Węgrzyn Konrad Leniowski
author_sort	Ewa Węgrzyn
title	Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition
title_short	Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition
title_full	Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition
title_fullStr	Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition
title_full_unstemmed	Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition
title_sort	contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/344cd3b2148647e3a27aa574c796d165
work_keys_str_mv	AT ewawegrzyn contactcallsinwoodpeckersareindividuallydistinctiveshowsignificantsexdifferencesandenablematerecognition AT wiktorwegrzyn contactcallsinwoodpeckersareindividuallydistinctiveshowsignificantsexdifferencesandenablematerecognition AT konradleniowski contactcallsinwoodpeckersareindividuallydistinctiveshowsignificantsexdifferencesandenablematerecognition
_version_	1718408069534187520

Contact calls in woodpeckers are individually distinctive, show significant sex differences and enable mate recognition

Ejemplares similares