Submission Type
Oral Presentation
Abstract
Birds rely on vocal acoustic communication for information about conspecific and heterospecific individuals, but non-vocal sounds (sonations) can also play a key role in acoustic communication. In birds, sonations are commonly produced using modified feathers, but there are some cases where they are produced by the striking of feet on a surface. Foot stomping has been highly studied in mammals and spiders, with little to no data for birds. The Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido and T. pallidicinctus) live in sympatry in western Kansas where they perform courtship displays that involve rapid foot stomping on mixed species leks. By integrating high-speed videos, audio recordings, behavioral observation, and morphology data; we identified which factors (female presence, mass, age, or species) influenced foot stomping. We found that foot stomping rate and duration are likely important factors in female choice, but only duration is used during species recognition. Our results also show that body mass and age in both species do not influence the rate or duration of foot stomping. We used high-speed videos to slow down prairie-chicken’s foot stomp and collected simple kinematic measurements (toe height, ankle height, and angle) to explore the factors that influence sonation production. We show that when females are present on the lek, males of both species lift their feet higher than when females are absent. This study shows the importance of considering non-vocal sounds as part of multimodal mate attraction in birds and that taking simple kinematic measurements can shed light on non-vocal sound production.
Included in
Nonvocal drumming sonations in two lek-mating grouse: Implications for female choice and species recognition
Birds rely on vocal acoustic communication for information about conspecific and heterospecific individuals, but non-vocal sounds (sonations) can also play a key role in acoustic communication. In birds, sonations are commonly produced using modified feathers, but there are some cases where they are produced by the striking of feet on a surface. Foot stomping has been highly studied in mammals and spiders, with little to no data for birds. The Greater and Lesser Prairie-Chickens (Tympanuchus cupido and T. pallidicinctus) live in sympatry in western Kansas where they perform courtship displays that involve rapid foot stomping on mixed species leks. By integrating high-speed videos, audio recordings, behavioral observation, and morphology data; we identified which factors (female presence, mass, age, or species) influenced foot stomping. We found that foot stomping rate and duration are likely important factors in female choice, but only duration is used during species recognition. Our results also show that body mass and age in both species do not influence the rate or duration of foot stomping. We used high-speed videos to slow down prairie-chicken’s foot stomp and collected simple kinematic measurements (toe height, ankle height, and angle) to explore the factors that influence sonation production. We show that when females are present on the lek, males of both species lift their feet higher than when females are absent. This study shows the importance of considering non-vocal sounds as part of multimodal mate attraction in birds and that taking simple kinematic measurements can shed light on non-vocal sound production.
Comments
Chelsea Wright* 1, Ian M. Hamilton1,3 , and Jacqueline K. Augustine2,4
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University, 318 W 12th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University at Lima, 4240 Campus Drive, Lima, OH, 45804, USA
Department of Mathematics, The Ohio State University, 231 W 18th Ave, Columbus, OH 43210, USA
Current: Audubon of Kansas, PO Box 1106, Manhattan, KS 66505, USA
* Presenting Author