Meeting Abstract
Heat waves are increasing in number, length, and intensity around the globe, causing more animals to undergo heat stress. Heat stress, like other kinds of stress, can cause behavioral changes. Small songbirds are particularly vulnerable to high temperatures as they are active during the day and produce a high amount of metabolic heat. One songbird behavior that has been shown to be impacted by high temperatures is song production. Often, male songbirds sing a species-specific song, which serves as a signal of quality to a potential mate. While it has been shown that male songbirds sing less when temperatures are higher, we do not know if the information contained within these songs changes. As an observer, it can be difficult to visually identify changes in birdsong, even when other birds can tell the difference. Therefore, the first step to test whether heat stress influences song salience is to ask the signal receivers: female songbirds. Here we tested whether 17 female zebra finches ( Taeniopygia guttata) could discriminate between songs produced by males under heat stressed (43°C) and thermal neutral conditions (35°C). While females exhibited a range of individual variation for songs produced under different temperature treatments, we found no evidence that our population preferred songs produced by males under thermal neutral or control temperatures.
