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.

以往学界多将告警信号声学结构的变异视为对捕食者类型或捕食者所构成威胁程度的编码信息。告警信号亦可传递个体身份信息，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鸣声的功能仍未明确。本研究以华丽细尾鹩莺（Malurus cyaneus）的驱敌告警鸣声为研究对象，探讨其是否传递了性别、个体身份或亲缘关系信息，且该信息在年度间是否稳定。随后，我们通过回放实验检验了成鸟的鸣声识别能力：首先采用习惯化-去习惯化范式，探究成鸟能否区分两只陌生个体的鸣声；随后，通过比较成鸟对配偶、同种群一级亲缘个体、同种群无亲缘个体以及不同种群远缘个体的驱敌告警鸣声的响应，测试其是否会根据与呼叫者的熟悉程度或亲缘关系调整自身反应。研究发现，华丽细尾鹩莺的驱敌告警鸣声仅传递个体身份信息，而非性别或亲缘关系信息，且鸣声的个体特异性存在年度间差异。成鸟能够区分两只陌生个体的鸣声，且相较于不同种群的个体，其对配偶与亲缘个体的回放鸣声响应更为强烈。本研究最后讨论了基于个体特征而非类群进行鸣声识别的相关条件。