Dataset Information

A spatiotemporal analysis of acoustic interactions between great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) using microphone arrays and robot audition software HARK.

ABSTRACT: Acoustic interactions are important for understanding intra- and interspecific communication in songbird communities from the viewpoint of soundscape ecology. It has been suggested that birds may divide up sound space to increase communication efficiency in such a manner that they tend to avoid overlap with other birds when they sing. We are interested in clarifying the dynamics underlying the process as an example of complex systems based on short-term behavioral plasticity. However, it is very problematic to manually collect spatiotemporal patterns of acoustic events in natural habitats using data derived from a standard single-channel recording of several species singing simultaneously. Our purpose here was to investigate fine-scale spatiotemporal acoustic interactions of the great reed warbler. We surveyed spatial and temporal patterns of several vocalizing color-banded great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) using an open-source software for robot audition HARK (Honda Research Institute Japan Audition for Robots with Kyoto University) and three new 16-channel, stand-alone, and water-resistant microphone arrays, named DACHO spread out in the bird's habitat. We first show that our system estimated the location of two color-banded individuals' song posts with mean error distance of 5.5 ± 4.5 m from the location of observed song posts. We then evaluated the temporal localization accuracy of the songs by comparing the duration of localized songs around the song posts with those annotated by human observers, with an accuracy score of average 0.89 for one bird that stayed at one song post. We further found significant temporal overlap avoidance and an asymmetric relationship between songs of the two singing individuals, using transfer entropy. We believe that our system and analytical approach contribute to a better understanding of fine-scale acoustic interactions in time and space in bird communities.

SUBMITTER: Suzuki R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5756896 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

A spatiotemporal analysis of acoustic interactions between great reed warblers (<i>Acrocephalus arundinaceus</i>) using microphone arrays and robot audition software HARK.

Suzuki Reiji R Matsubayashi Shiho S Saito Fumiyuki F Murate Tatsuyoshi T Masuda Tomohisa T Yamamoto Koichi K Kojima Ryosuke R Nakadai Kazuhiro K Okuno Hiroshi G HG

Ecology and evolution 20171210 1

Acoustic interactions are important for understanding intra- and interspecific communication in songbird communities from the viewpoint of soundscape ecology. It has been suggested that birds may divide up sound space to increase communication efficiency in such a manner that they tend to avoid overlap with other birds when they sing. We are interested in clarifying the dynamics underlying the process as an example of complex systems based on short-term behavioral plasticity. However, it is very ...[more]

PMID: 29321916

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Project description:Hybridization is observed frequently in birds, but often it is not known whether the hybrids are fertile and if backcrossing occurs. The breeding ranges of the great reed warbler (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) and the clamorous reed warbler (A. stentoreus) overlap in southern Kazakhstan and a previous study has documented hybridization in a sympatric population. In the present study, we first present a large set of novel microsatellite loci isolated and characterised in great reed warblers. Secondly, we evaluate whether hybridization in the sympatric breeding population has been followed by backcrossing and introgression.We isolated 181 unique microsatellite loci in great reed warblers. Of 41 loci evaluated, 40 amplified and 30 were polymorphic. Bayesian clustering analyses based on genotype data from 23 autosomal loci recognised two well-defined genetic clusters corresponding to the two species. Individuals clustered to a very high extent to either of these clusters (admixture proportions ≥ 0.984) with the exception of four previously suggested arundinaceus-stentoreus hybrid birds that showed mixed ancestry (admixture proportions 0.495-0.619). Analyses of simulated hybrids and backcrossed individuals showed that the sampled birds do not correspond to first-fourth-generation backcrosses, and that fifth or higher generation backcrosses to a high extent resemble 'pure' birds at this set of markers.We conclude that these novel microsatellite loci provide a useful molecular resource for Acrocephalus warblers. The time to reach reproductive isolation is believed to be very long in birds, approximately 5 Myrs, and with an estimated divergence time of 2 Myrs between these warblers, some backcrossing and introgression could have been expected. However, there was no evidence for backcrossing and introgression suggesting that hybrids are either infertile or their progeny inviable. Very low levels of introgression cannot be excluded, which still may be an important factor as a source of new genetic variation.

Dataset Information

A spatiotemporal analysis of acoustic interactions between great reed warblers (Acrocephalus arundinaceus) using microphone arrays and robot audition software HARK.

Publications

A spatiotemporal analysis of acoustic interactions between great reed warblers (<i>Acrocephalus arundinaceus</i>) using microphone arrays and robot audition software HARK.

Similar Datasets

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