Aggressive displays by male House Wrens are composed of multiple components that predict attack

作者：Barnett Craig A^*; Sakaluk Scott K; Thompson Charles F

来源：Journal of Field Ornithology, 2014, 85(1): 56-62.

DOI：10.1111/jofo.12049

• aggression
• bird song
• escalation
• signal evolution
• Troglodytes aedon
• wing quivering

Aggressive signals should predict whether the sender of the signal will attack the receiver, yet this criterion has been little studied. We conducted experiments with male House Wrens (Troglodytes aedon) in north-central Illinois in 2009 to test the hypothesis that rates of song delivery and wing-quivering (putative aggressive signals) signal aggressive intent. We simulated a conspecific territorial intrusion by combining playback of male song with a male taxidermic mount, predicting that these signals would be related to a male's likelihood of attacking a conspecific. All males (N = 37) sang in response to the intrusion. Males attacking the mount sang at significantly higher rates and performed significantly more wing quivers than males that did not attack. In addition, all males that attacked the mount performed wing quivers (9/9), whereas only 53.6% (15/28) of males that did not attack did so (P = 0.011). Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that both song and wing quivering indicate a signaler's aggressive intent and that these signals are likely components of a multi-component, hierarchical display.

• 出版日期2014-3