Meeting Abstract
The study of bird vocal communication has historically focused on songs, whereas the study of unlearned calls has not been given much attention. Songs are elaborate, long, and only serve few functions, whereas calls are much shorter, simpler, and are employed in a myriad of situations. For example calls are used for alarming, recruit feeding companions, signaling movement and, most interestingly, can also mediate social relationships. To fully investigate these functions it is essential to record birds continuously and individually. We therefore developed miniaturized backpack microphones to be used on a small social and monogamous bird, the Zebra Finch, to address 3 questions about calls. 1) Are the unlearned calls individually recognized? 2) How does the vocal communication develop within a pair? 3) Is the telencephalic motor vocal pathway, which controls learned vocalizations, also involved in the production of calls? We found that the calls are individually recognized allowing the sender to address specific birds within a group. Next we discovered that mates established precise and consistent patterns of alternated calling during pair formations, but not all pairs have the same strength and pattern. Finally, when considering the neural control of these unlearned vocalizations, we found that lesions of the telencephalic nuclei influenced the spectral features of these unlearned vocalizations whereas they do not influence their temporal pattern (i.e. duetting with the partner). We were able to successfully characterize the calling system of a Passeriform at multiple mechanistic levels, from motor control to call motivation in carefully controlled situations. We are now convinced that our results provide a basis for future scientists to study calling interactions in wild populations to understand their influence on pair compatibility and ultimately fitness success.
