Journal of Ecology and Environment

The Ecological Society of Korea (한국생태학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Anti-Predator Responses of Black-Tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris) Flocks to Alarm Calls during the Post-Breeding Season

  • Park, Shi-Ryong (Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education) ;
  • Chung, Hoon (Department of Applied Animal Science, Sahmyook University) ;
  • Cheong, Seok-Wan (Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education) ;
  • Lee, Song-Yi (Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education) ;
  • Sung, Ha-Cheol (Department of Biology Education, Korea National University of Education)
  • Published : 2007.02.28
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

Black-tailed gulls (Larus crassirostris) produce alarm calls apparently related to their anti-predator behaviors, but the hypothesis that the calls are actually used as functionally referential alarm signals has not yet been tested. In this study, we performed a series of experiments using visual (a stuffed goshawk: Accipiter gentilis) and acoustic (alarm calls and a control vocalization) stimuli at 15 sites in Sinjindo-ri and Dowhang-ri, Taean-gun, Chungnam province to examine anti-predator responses of the gulls to alarm calls in playback trials. We found that the gulls' visual recognition of a perched hawk model in the absence of alarm vocalizations was weak or absent because the model was noticed in only two out of 16 trials. The gulls' responses to playbacks of the alarm call only and the alarm call with a visual stimulus differed from responses to the control vocalization in latency to approach, time mobbing, and the percentage of gulls responding, while the responses to alarm call only differed from alarm call with a visual stimulus in latency to first fly, latency to call, and time mobbing. The results of this study suggest that alarm calls of black-tailed gulls are used to elicit appropriate anti-predator behaviors that are intensified when a predator is detected visually.

Keywords

References

  1. Anderson SS. 1978. Scaring seals by sound. Mammal Rev 8: 19-24 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2907.1978.tb00212.x
  2. Andersson M, Wiklund G, Rundgre H. 1980. Parental defence of offspring - A model and an example. Anim Behav 28: 536-542 https://doi.org/10.1016/S0003-3472(80)80062-5
  3. Anjos L, Vielliard JME. 1993. Repertoire of the acoustic communication of the Azure Jay Cyanocorax caeruleus (Vieillot) (Aves, Corvidae). Revta bras Zool 10: 657-664 https://doi.org/10.1590/S0101-81751993000400011
  4. Bildstein KL. 1982. Responses of Northern Harriers to mobbing passerines. J Field Ornithol 53: 7-14
  5. Bradbury JW, Vehrencamp SL. 1998. Principles of Animal Communication. Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, Massachusetts
  6. Budrys RR, Gegelevicius R. 2002. Research on defence behaviour in a Common Gull (Larus canus) colony during breeding. Acta Zoologica Lituanica: 10-17
  7. Byers BE. 1996. Messages encoded in the songs of Chestnut-sided Warblers. Anim Behav 52: 691-705 https://doi.org/10.1006/anbe.1996.0214
  8. Collias NE. 1987. The vocal repertoire of the Red Junglefowl: a spectrographic classification and the code of communication. Condor 89: 510-524 https://doi.org/10.2307/1368641
  9. Curio E. 1978. The adaptive significance of avian mobbing. I. Teleonomic hypotheses and predictions. Z Tierpsychol 48: 175-l 83
  10. Dale S, Gustavsen R, Slagsvold T. 1996. Risk taking during parental care: a test of three hypotheses applied to the Pied Flycatcher. Behav Ecol Sociobiol 39: 31-42 https://doi.org/10.1007/s002650050264
  11. Hand JL. 1981. A comparison of vocalizations of Western Gulls (Larus occidentalis occidentalis and L. o. livens). Condor 83: 289-301 https://doi.org/10.2307/1367495
  12. Ficken MS, Ficken RW, Witkin SR. 1978. Vocal repertoire of the Black-capped Chickadee. Auk 95: 34-49 https://doi.org/10.2307/4085493
  13. Evans CS. 1997. Referential signalling. Perspectives in Ethology 12: 99-143 https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-1745-4_5
  14. Gilchrist HG. 2001. Glaucous Gull (Larus hyperboreus). In: The Birds of North America, No. 573 (Poole A, Gill F, eds). The Birds of North America, Inc., Philadelphia, PA
  15. Jones IL, Falls JB 1989. The vocal repertoire of the Ancient Murrelet. Condor 91: 699-710 https://doi.org/10.2307/1368122
  16. Maier V. 1982. Acoustic communication in the guinea fowl (Numida meleagris): structure and use of vocalizations, and the principles of message coding. Z Tierpsychol 59: 29-83 https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1982.tb00330.x
  17. Malickiene D, Budrys RR. 2002. Changes in colony defence pattern during the breeding cycle of the Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibundus L.): the importance of parameters characterising defensive behaviour. Acta Zoologica Lituanica 12: 144-150 https://doi.org/10.1080/13921657.2002.10512500
  18. Marler P. 1955. Characteristics of some alarm calls. Nature 176: 6-8 https://doi.org/10.1038/176006a0
  19. Marler P, Evans CS, Hauser MD. 1992. Animal signals: motivational, referential, or both? In: Nonverbal Vocal Communication: Comparative and Developmental Approaches (Papousek H, Jurgens U, Papousek M, eds). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp 66-86
  20. Miller EH. 1984. Communication in breeding shorebirds. In: Shorebirds: Breeding Behavior and Populations (Burger J, Olla BL, eds). Plenum Press, New York, pp 169-241
  21. Morton ES. 1975. Ecological sources of selection on avian sounds. Am Nat 109: 17-34 https://doi.org/10.1086/282971
  22. Lind J, Jongren F, Nillson J, Alm DS, Strandmark A. 2005. Information, predation risk and foraging decisions during mobbing in Great Tits Parus major. Ornis Fennica 82: 89-96
  23. Oring LW. 1968. Vocalizations of the Green and Solitary Sandpipers. Wilson Bull 80: 395-420
  24. Park SR, Park DS. 1997. Acoustic communication of the Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris): the structure and behavioral context of vocalizations. Korean J Biol Sci 1:565-569
  25. Riska DE. 1986. An analysis of vocal communication in the adult Brown Noddy (Anous stolidus). Auk 103: 359-369
  26. Rho JR. 1992. The study of the kin recognition between offspring and parent and behavior on Black-tailed Gull (Larus crassirostris) at Hong island on Kyoungnam in Korea (M. Ed. thesis). Korea National University of Education, Chungbuk
  27. Ryder JP. 1993. Ring-billed Gull. In: The Birds of North America, No. 33 (Poole A, Stettenheim P, Gill F, eds). Philadelphia, The Academy of Natural Sciences, Washington, DC: The American Ornithologists' Union
  28. Sordahl TA. 1979. Vocalizations and behavior of the Willet. Wilson Bull 91: 551-574
  29. Tinbergen N. 1960. The Herring Gull's world, second ed. Basic Books, New York
  30. Trainer JM, McDonald DB 1993. Vocal repertoire of the Long-tailed Manakin and its relation to male-male cooperation. Condor 95: 769-781 https://doi.org/10.2307/1369416
  31. Wiley RH, Richards DG. 1982. Adaptations for acoustic communication in birds: sound transmission and signal detection. In: Acoustic Communication in Birds, Vol. 1. (Kroodsma DE, Miller EH, eds). Academic Press, New York, pp 131-181