Calls of the little auk (Alle alle) chicks reflect their behavioural contexts
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Calls of the little auk (Alle alle) chicks reflect their behavioural contexts. / Osiecka, Anna N.; Briefer, Elodie F.; Kidawa, Dorota; Żurawska, Feliksa; Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna.
In: PLoS ONE, Vol. 19, No. 2, e0299033, 2024.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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T1 - Calls of the little auk (Alle alle) chicks reflect their behavioural contexts
AU - Osiecka, Anna N.
AU - Briefer, Elodie F.
AU - Kidawa, Dorota
AU - Żurawska, Feliksa
AU - Wojczulanis-Jakubas, Katarzyna
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2024 Public Library of Science. All rights reserved.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - Animal vocalisations can often inform conspecifics about the behavioural context of production and the underlying affective states, hence revealing whether a situation should be approached or avoided. While this is particularly important for socially complex species, little is known about affective expression in wild colonial animals, and even less to about their young. We studied vocalisations of the little auk (Alle alle) chicks in the Hornsund breeding colony, Svalbard. Little auks are highly colonial seabirds, and adults convey complex behavioural contexts through their calls. We recorded chick calls during two contexts of opposite affective valence: handing by a human, and while they interact with their parents inside the nest. Using permuted discriminant function analysis and a series of linear mixed models, we examined the effect of the production context/associated affective valence on the acoustic parameters of those calls. Calls were reliably classified to their context, with over 97% accuracy. Calls uttered during handling had higher mean entropy, fundamental frequency, as well as lower spectral centre of gravity and a less steep spectral slope compared to calls produced during interactions with a parent inside the nest. The individuality of handling calls, assessed by information content, was lower than the individuality of calls uttered in the nest. These findings suggest that seabird chicks can effectively communicate behavioural/affective contexts through calls, conveying socially important messages early in development. Our results are mostly in line with emotional expression patterns observed across taxa, supporting their evolutionary continuity.
AB - Animal vocalisations can often inform conspecifics about the behavioural context of production and the underlying affective states, hence revealing whether a situation should be approached or avoided. While this is particularly important for socially complex species, little is known about affective expression in wild colonial animals, and even less to about their young. We studied vocalisations of the little auk (Alle alle) chicks in the Hornsund breeding colony, Svalbard. Little auks are highly colonial seabirds, and adults convey complex behavioural contexts through their calls. We recorded chick calls during two contexts of opposite affective valence: handing by a human, and while they interact with their parents inside the nest. Using permuted discriminant function analysis and a series of linear mixed models, we examined the effect of the production context/associated affective valence on the acoustic parameters of those calls. Calls were reliably classified to their context, with over 97% accuracy. Calls uttered during handling had higher mean entropy, fundamental frequency, as well as lower spectral centre of gravity and a less steep spectral slope compared to calls produced during interactions with a parent inside the nest. The individuality of handling calls, assessed by information content, was lower than the individuality of calls uttered in the nest. These findings suggest that seabird chicks can effectively communicate behavioural/affective contexts through calls, conveying socially important messages early in development. Our results are mostly in line with emotional expression patterns observed across taxa, supporting their evolutionary continuity.
U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0299033
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0299033
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 38394184
AN - SCOPUS:85185807337
VL - 19
JO - PLoS ONE
JF - PLoS ONE
SN - 1932-6203
IS - 2
M1 - e0299033
ER -
ID: 384492270