Social information trumps vegetation structure in breeding-site selection by a migrant songbird

To maximize fitness, organisms must assess and select suitable habitat. Early research studying birds suggested that organisms consider primarily vegetation structural cues in their habitat choices. We show that experimental exposure to singing in the post-breeding period provides a social cue that...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2008-10, Vol.275 (1648), p.2257-2263
Main Authors: Betts, Matthew G, Hadley, Adam S, Rodenhouse, Nicholas, Nocera, Joseph J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Aviculture
Behavior, Animal - physiology
Bird songs
Breeding
Breeding seasons
Dendroica caerulescens
Dispersal
Ecosystem
Female
Forest habitats
Habitat Selection
Linear Models
Location Cues
Male
Memory interference
Prospecting
Public information
Sexual Behavior, Animal
Shrubs
Social Information
Songbirds - growth & development
Songbirds - physiology
Vegetation Structure
Vocalization, Animal - physiology
Warblers
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Summary:To maximize fitness, organisms must assess and select suitable habitat. Early research studying birds suggested that organisms consider primarily vegetation structural cues in their habitat choices. We show that experimental exposure to singing in the post-breeding period provides a social cue that is used for habitat selection the following year by a migrant songbird, the black-throated blue warbler (Dendroica caerulescens). Our experimental social cues coerced individuals to adopt territories in areas of very poor habitat quality where individuals typically do not occur. This indicates that social information can override typical associations with vegetation structure. We demonstrate that a strong settlement response was elicited because post-breeding song at a site is highly correlated with reproductive success. These results constitute a previously undocumented, but highly parsimonious mechanism for the inadvertent transfer of reproductive (public) information from successful breeders to dispersers. We hypothesize that post-breeding song is a pervasive and reliable cue for species that communicate vocally, inhabit temporally autocorrelated environments, produce young asynchronously and/or abandon territories after reproductive failure.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2008.0217