Data from: Superb fairy-wrens respond more to alarm calls from mate and kin compared to unrelated individuals

Variation in the acoustic structure of alarm signals has mainly been viewed as coding information about the type of predator or the level of threat posed by the predator. Alarm signals can also convey individuality information, but whether conspecifics use this information and the function of individually distinct alarm calls remains unclear. In this study, we examined whether mobbing alarm calls of superb fairy-wrens (Malurus cyaneus) communicated information about sex, individual identity or kinship and whether this information was stable between years. We then examined the discriminative abilities of adults using playback experiments. We first used a habituation/dishabituation procedure to investigate whether adults were able to differentiate between two unfamiliar individuals. Then, we tested whether they adjusted their response based on their level of familiarity or kinship with the caller by comparing their response to mobbing alarm calls of their mate, a first order relative from the same population, an unrelated individual from the same population or a distant bird from a different population. Superb fairy-wren mobbing alarm calls conveyed information about individuality, but not sex or kinship, and vocal individuality varied between years. Adults discriminated between two unfamiliar individuals and responded more strongly to playback of calls from their mate and kin versus individuals from another population. We discussed the conditions for discrimination based on individual characteristics rather than categories of individuals.以往研究多认为，告警信号的声学结构变异主要用于编码捕食者类型或捕食者所造成的威胁程度相关信息。告警信号亦可传递个体识别信息，但同种个体是否会利用该信息，以及具有个体特异性的告警叫声的功能仍不明晰。本研究以华丽细尾鹩莺（Malurus cyaneus）的聚众告警叫声为研究对象，探究其是否传递了性别、个体身份或亲缘关系相关信息，以及该类信息在不同年份间是否保持稳定。随后，本研究通过回放实验探究了成鸟的鸣声识别能力：研究首先采用习惯化-去习惯化实验范式，探究成鸟能否区分两只陌生个体的叫声；继而通过对比成鸟对四类聚众告警叫声的应答强度，测试其是否会根据与呼叫者的熟悉程度或亲缘关系调整应答——四类叫声分别来自其配偶、同种群内的一级亲缘个体、同种群内无亲缘关系个体，以及来自不同种群的异地个体。研究结果表明，华丽细尾鹩莺的聚众告警叫声仅传递个体识别信息，而非性别或亲缘关系信息，且鸣声的个体特异性在不同年份间存在差异。本研究最后讨论了基于个体特征而非个体类群开展鸣声辨别的相关条件。