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.警报信号声学结构的变异，既往多被认为是用于编码捕食者类型以及捕食者所造成的威胁程度相关信息。警报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警报叫声的功能仍不明确。本研究以华丽细尾鹩莺（superb fairy-wren, Malurus cyaneus）的围攻警报叫声为研究对象，探究其是否传递了性别、个体身份或亲缘关系相关信息，以及此类信息在不同年份间是否具有稳定性。随后，本研究通过回放实验考察了成鸟的识别能力。我们首先采用习惯化-去习惯化实验范式，探究成鸟是否能够区分两只陌生个体。随后，我们通过对比成鸟对以下四类围攻警报叫声的反应，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：配偶、同种群内的一级亲属、同种群内的无关个体，以及来自不同种群的异地个体。研究结果显示，华丽细尾鹩莺的围攻警报叫声仅传递个体识别信息，而非性别或亲缘关系信息，且其鸣唱个体特征在不同年份间存在差异。本研究还探讨了基于个体特征而非个体类群进行识别的相关条件。