Association between song and a complex habitat transition in a sparrow (Zonotrichia capensis)

ATTINÁ, NATALÍ; LAVINIA, PABLO D.; TUBARO, PABLO L.; LIJTMAER, DARÍO A.

Congreso; 2020 Animal Behavior Society Virtual Conference; 2020

Animal Behavior Society

Studying the association between bird song and habitat allows understanding acoustic adaptation and sound generation. Zonotrichia capensis has been extensively studied in this regard due to the association between its song dialects and habitat. However, the spatial assessment of song variation has been rather simple in previous studies. We studied the association between vocalizations and habitat in this species in a complex matrix of interdigitated steppe and espinal woodland in central Argentina. We recorded 629 individuals in a 170 km x 100 km area. We found a reversed association between song and habitat (compared to the predictions of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis) in the south of the study area, presumably due to the effect of intense winds. The pattern was less clear in the north due to a reduction in the trill interval, particularly in the steppe. The dialect transitions between habitats were gradual and vocalizations were clearly influenced by the neighboring dialect. Our results confirm the close association between song and habitat in this species, even in intricate environmental transitions, but show that this association can be complex and difficult to predict.