Keywords
playbacks
alerted detection
Rufous-collared Sparrows
song
Abstract
The Alerted Detection Hypothesis suggests that the bird-song structure is adaptive for long-range communication in a noisy environment. According to this hypothesis, the introductory part of the song may act as an "alerting" element, which warns potential receptors about the arrival of the informative portion of the signal, contained in the remaining parts of the song. We evaluated the Alerted Detection Hypothesis in the Rufous-collared Sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis) using a playback design with complete songs as well as their isolated constitutive parts (theme and trill). The Rufous-collared Sparrows responded more to the complete songs than to the themes and trills. However, both themes and trills evoked a similar response. These results contrast with those predicted by the Alerted Detection Hypothesis, which states that only complete songs and trills would have elicited significant responses of similar intensity.
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