week 4 - mammal vocal comm and reproductive success Flashcards
Fallow deer have a ___ ____ mating system
variable polygynous
Fallow deer have intense ___ competition, causing a high ___ ___ and high ___ ___
intrasexual
mating skew
sexual dimorphism
Fallow deer are one of the only deer species which?
have a lek
The timing of the rut in fallow deer is when?
consistent year round and starts in middle october
What did McElligott et al. 1998 show with distribution of matings and fights during the rut?
very similar
as fights increase so do the number of matings
McElligott et al 2002 showed that there is a positive relationships between male fitness correlates…
successful males survive better and more likely to breed again
Is there any polyandry seen in fallow deer?
about 13% of females are polyandrous and this is linked to female and male age and potentially sperm depletion
what is the source-filter theory of speech production?
speech can be seen as a source signal produced in the larynx and then filtered by the cavities of the vocal tract
Longer vocal folds = lower __ ___
fundamental frequency (F0)
longer vocal tract = lower __ __ and __ ___
formant frequencies formant dispersion (Df)
fundamental frequency (F0) is also known as?
pitch
Bigger animals produce lower pitched (F0) calls why?
longer vocal folds leads to lower fundamental frequency (F0)
Fundamental frequency can be used as a cue to ___ ___
body size
Fundamental frequency cannot be used as a cue to body size when?
male dimorphic mammals
In dimorphic mammals what can be used as a cue to body size?
formant frequencies (Df)
Acoustic structure of calls can be used for which 3 things?
individual identity
competitive ability - male quality
body size - male
Evidence for acoustic structure of calls and reproductive success, do groans encode information on male quality?
Vannoni and McElligot 2007
- groans are individually distinct
McElligot et al 2006
- vocal tract increases by 54% decreasing formant frequencies during groan
Vannoni and McElligot 2008
- body size (hind leg length) and minimum fundamental frequency (F0min) are not linked
- bigger males produce calls with lower formant frequencies (Dfmin)
- dominant males produce calls with lower fundamental frequencies (F0)
F0 and Df related to ___ and ___
Df related to __ ___
individuality dominance
body size
As male fallow deer age there is a trade off between ___ and ____
individuality and quality cues
Groaning is a ___ ___ signal
unimodal multicomponent
conclusions
size of __ and ___ affects acoustic structure
groans contain dynamic cues that ___ ___ ___ (within seasons and over years)
larynx. vocal tract
change over time
can males detect fatigue in groans?
went out to the lek. played normal calls to indiviudal. also artificially increased calling rate and changed vocal parameters to make them sound like exhausted males.
males initially responded to both groan types equally, but spent more time vigilant after hearing early rut groans (those which are not exhausted, potentially more of a threat). The fatigued fgroans the males didn’t spend as much time looking at the speaker possibly because it is less of a threat.
Are groans an indicator of body condition?
the sound of their calls change during the rut. The later in October there call becomes more hoarse. Increasingly noisy groans – more broken up not as smooth.
phase of rut and structure of groans - number of pulses, the pulses of the vocal chords in the larynx. the number of pulses per groan goes down the further into the rut season as they get more worn out.
other males could be using this information, other males may notice that his groan begins to crack and males notice he gets worn out and start to attack him.
