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Individuality in trumpet calls of the crested auklet (Aethia cristatella), a highly social species

Individuality in trumpet calls of the crested auklet (Aethia cristatella), a highly social species Crested auklet is a unique representative of the family Alcidae with a complex social behavior nesting in dense colonies with a size of up to one million individuals. Here we study specific individual features in their trumpet calls, loud vocalizations used by auklets as an advertising display. In 2008 and 2009, we recorded 231 calls of 24 individually marked male crested auklets from the Talan Island (Sea of Okhotsk). According to a stepwise discriminant function analysis based on seven variables in the call introduction, the rate of correct call assignment to an individual was 84.8% and that in the case of seven variables of the main part of the call was 82.3%, which considerably exceeds a random classification. Thus, a single introduction or a single main part of the call is sufficient for a reliable individual identification of a calling bird. We assume that such redundancy of information for individual recognition can enhance identification of calls of a large number of auklet conspecifics in dense colonies with a nesting density of several tens of pairs per 1 m2. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Moscow University Biological Sciences Bulletin Springer Journals

Individuality in trumpet calls of the crested auklet (Aethia cristatella), a highly social species

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References (37)

Publisher
Springer Journals
Copyright
Copyright © 2011 by Allerton Press, Inc.
Subject
Life Sciences; Biochemistry, general; Life Sciences, general; Zoology; Cell Biology; Plant Sciences
ISSN
0096-3925
eISSN
1934-791X
DOI
10.3103/S0096392511030047
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Crested auklet is a unique representative of the family Alcidae with a complex social behavior nesting in dense colonies with a size of up to one million individuals. Here we study specific individual features in their trumpet calls, loud vocalizations used by auklets as an advertising display. In 2008 and 2009, we recorded 231 calls of 24 individually marked male crested auklets from the Talan Island (Sea of Okhotsk). According to a stepwise discriminant function analysis based on seven variables in the call introduction, the rate of correct call assignment to an individual was 84.8% and that in the case of seven variables of the main part of the call was 82.3%, which considerably exceeds a random classification. Thus, a single introduction or a single main part of the call is sufficient for a reliable individual identification of a calling bird. We assume that such redundancy of information for individual recognition can enhance identification of calls of a large number of auklet conspecifics in dense colonies with a nesting density of several tens of pairs per 1 m2.

Journal

Moscow University Biological Sciences BulletinSpringer Journals

Published: Sep 15, 2011

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