Vocal mimicry in the song of Icterine warblers (Hippolais icterina): possible functions and sources of variability

Result code in IS VaVaI
<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F60076658%3A12310%2F18%3A43897206" target="_blank" >RIV/60076658:12310/18:43897206 - isvavai.cz</a>
Result on the web
<a href="https://kopernio.com/viewer?doi=10.1080/03949370.2017.1412356&route=1" target="_blank" >https://kopernio.com/viewer?doi=10.1080/03949370.2017.1412356&route=1</a>
DOI - Digital Object Identifier
<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03949370.2017.1412356" target="_blank" >10.1080/03949370.2017.1412356</a>

Result language
angličtina
Original language name
Vocal mimicry in the song of Icterine warblers (Hippolais icterina): possible functions and sources of variability
Original language description
Vocal mimicry in birds is a well-known phenomenon, but in the majority of bird mimic species, its function, variability and accuracy still remain undiscovered. We analysed the song of 23 Icterine warbler (Hippolais icterina) males in eske Budejovice (Czech Republic) and identified 52 mimicked species. Our results showed that Icterine warbler males (1) mimicked species that are present in their territories (i.e. passive sampling hypothesis), (2) mimicked alarm calls more frequently than non-alarm calls (i.e. alarm call hypothesis), (3) produced species-specific non-mimetic song that is most similar to the alarm calls of frequently mimicked species (i.e. acoustic similarity hypothesis) and (4) produced mimicry that is not perfect, but still acoustically convincing. These results suggest that Icterine warbler males largely reflect the surrounding acoustic environment in their song, but simultaneously selectively include vocalisations that are similar to their own song as a result of physiological constraints. We further found that (5) songs of neighbours are not more similar compared with more distant males and (6) there is no relationship between genetic and song similarity suggesting that song is learned mainly from heterospecifics.
Czech name
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Czech description
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Type
J<sub>imp</sub> - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database
CEP classification
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OECD FORD branch
10615 - Ornithology

Project
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Continuities
I - Institucionalni podpora na dlouhodoby koncepcni rozvoj vyzkumne organizace

Publication year
2018
Confidentiality
S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

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