Daily and seasonal fluctuation in Tawny Owl vocalization timing

AGOSTINO P.V.; LUSK N.A.; MECK W.H.; GOLOMBEK D.A.; PERYER G.

PLOS ONE

PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE

Lugar: San Francisco; Año: 2020 vol. 15

1932-6203

A robust adaptation to environmental changes is vital for survival. Almost all living organisms have a circadian timing system that allows adjusting their physiology to cyclic variations in the surrounding environment. Among vertebrates, many birds are also seasonal species, adapting their physiology to annual changes in photoperiod (amplitude, length and duration). In particular, Tawny Owls (Strix aluco) are nocturnal birds of prey that use vocalization as their principal mechanism of communication. In the present work, we show that male Tawny Owls present a periodic vocalization pattern in the seconds-to-minutes range that is subject to both circadian and seasonal rhythmicity. These novel findings appear to extend the role of the circadian system in regulating temporal events in the seconds-to-minutes range.