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Vocal communication and breeding ecology of grey fantails (Rhipidura albiscapa)
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Supervisors:
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Nadya
Sotnychuk, Kristin Kovach White, Dr. Christa Beckmann
Contact details: email: nadya.sotnychuk.2016@owu.edu, kakovach.217@gmail.com
Phone : +61 491 336 322
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Keywords:
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Breeding ecology, communication, song, call, birds
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Summary:
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Communication is important in the lives of
animals to avoid predators, find mates, and locate food. Vocal communication,
or producing sounds by passing air over throat membranes, is a useful information
transmission mechanism shared by humans, birds, and many more. For this
project, you will investigate bird vocal communication in conjunction with
breeding behaviours. Grey fantails (Rhipidura
albiscapa) are monomorphic, exhibit biparental care, and breed in
socially monogamous pairs. Both males and females sing often, including
vocalizing near the nest. Interestingly,
they also experience high rates of nest predation (an average of 83% of
clutches predated before fledging; Munro, 2007) and may build as many as 7
nests in a breeding season (Beckmann et al. 2015). The tendency to vocalize
and sing near the nest, which could alert predators to its location, warrants
investigation. Given the high potential cost, these communicative behaviours
must be evolutionarily beneficial. You will help examine factors that might affect
fantail breeding ecology to better understand such behaviours. This is a lab-based project, using audio
and video recordings collected previously.
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Relevant
literature
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Beckmann, C., Biro, P., & K. Martin. (2015).
Hierarchical
analysis of avian re-nesting behavior: mean, across-individual, and
intra-individual responses. Behavioural Ecology and Sociobiology, 69, 1631-1638
Munro, K. (2007). Breeding behaviour and ecology of the grey fantail
(Rhipidura albiscapa). Australian Journal of Zoology, 55(4), 257-265.
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Techniques
involved in the project:
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Raven Pro sound software (sound annotation), BORIS behavioural coding
software (video annotation), animal behaviour, statistics.
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Required
skills and abilities:
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English proficiency, patience, perseverance, organization, attention
to detail, interest in avian ecology.
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