The significance of song repertoires: The Beau Geste hypothesis

@article{citeulike:3210868, abstract = {I briefly discuss the major current hypotheses which have been put forward to explain the apparently redundant song repertoires of many oscine birds: individual recognition; sexual selection; matched countersinging; and habituation. I then propose an alternative idea, that song repertoires in some species have evolved in the context of density assessment. In the great tit, non-territorial birds use the song of residents as a cue in assessing density, and I suggest that repertoires are used by resident birds to increase the apparent density of singing residents, and hence decrease the apparent suitability of the area to new birds. I explore some implications of the idea and list some predictions.}, author = {Krebs, John R. }, citeulike-article-id = {3210868}, comment = {Review of theories of why song repertoires exist: 1) Indiv. recog 2) sexually selected 3) Terr. maintenance via a) permitting matched countersinging (if there is a lot of indiv. variation in song) or b) to prevent habituation. Krebs proposes c) Beau Geste-- hyp. that males attempt to make pop seem more dnese--via switching perches and singing diff. songs}, doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0003-3472(77)90022-7}, journal = {Animal Behaviour}, keywords = {density, group, repertoires, song}, month = {May}, number = {Part 2}, pages = {475--478}, posted-at = {2008-09-09 21:46:44}, priority = {0}, title = {The significance of song repertoires: The Beau Geste hypothesis}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0003-3472(77)90022-7}, volume = {25}, year = {1977} }

TY - JOUR ID - citeulike:3210868 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3210868 N2 - I briefly discuss the major current hypotheses which have been put forward to explain the apparently redundant song repertoires of many oscine birds: individual recognition; sexual selection; matched countersinging; and habituation. I then propose an alternative idea, that song repertoires in some species have evolved in the context of density assessment. In the great tit, non-territorial birds use the song of residents as a cue in assessing density, and I suggest that repertoires are used by resident birds to increase the apparent density of singing residents, and hence decrease the apparent suitability of the area to new birds. I explore some implications of the idea and list some predictions. IS - Part 2 JF - Animal Behaviour EP - 478 TI - The significance of song repertoires: The Beau Geste hypothesis VL - 25 SP - 475 KW - density KW - group KW - repertoires KW - song N1 - Review of theories of why song repertoires exist: 1) Indiv. recog 2) sexually selected 3) Terr. maintenance via a) permitting matched countersinging (if there is a lot of indiv. variation in song) or b) to prevent habituation. Krebs proposes c) Beau Geste-- hyp. that males attempt to make pop seem more dnese--via switching perches and singing diff. songs AU - Krebs, John PY - 1977/05// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0003-3472(77)90022-7 ER -