Data from: Declining food availability alters vocal behavior of a nomadic finch
Data files
Apr 04, 2025 version files 252.94 KB
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README.md
6.50 KB
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Tir_Watts_TypeC_subsample_fundamental.csv
16.08 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_Activity.csv
104.77 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_BodyMass.csv
2.27 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeB.csv
8.47 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeC.csv
8.49 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeP.csv
8.33 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeR.csv
8.34 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeT.csv
8.34 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeZ.csv
8.33 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_CORT.csv
3.58 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_TotalCalls.csv
8.26 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_TypeB_subsample.csv
23.35 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_TypeC_subsample.csv
26.22 KB
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Tir_Watts2025_TypeC_Syllables.csv
11.60 KB
Abstract
Social information (i.e., gathered from other individuals) can be an important information source for animal decision-making related to foraging and movement. For instance, social information in the form of acoustic cues can be used to locate food sources. The ability to accurately assess declines in food availability or quality in order to make movement decisions can also impact fitness. However, little is known about whether the acoustic cues produced by animals differ when food is in decline and could therefore be used as a source of information in this context. To test this hypothesis, we conducted a study on the effect of food availability on the vocal behavior of pine siskin (Spinus pinus). Pine siskins are gregarious, nomadic finches that feed on seeds that fluctuate irregularly and dramatically in abundance. We recorded and characterized the vocalizations of wild-caught birds in captivity under two experimental conditions: unlimited food and a 20% reduction in food availability. Birds called more frequently when food restricted and increased the production of two specific call types (Types B and C). For both of these call types, the minimum frequency was higher when birds were food restricted, and for C calls the median, peak dominant, and peak fundamental frequencies were also higher. We further tested whether changes in acoustic frequency were associated with circulating corticosterone levels, as is predicted by the hypothesis that circulating glucocorticoid levels mediate changes in acoustic frequency in response to food restriction, and found only limited evidence to support the hypothesis.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.kh18932js
Description of the data and file structure
This dataset includes activity, body mass, corticosterone, call count, and call frequency measurements collected from captive pine siskins experiencing unlimited food availability and restricted food availability, in a repeated measures experimental design.
Files and variables
File: Tir_Watts_TypeC_subsample_fundamental.csv
Description: Data on the fundamental peak frequency of exemplar calls of type c
Variables
- Freq_Peak: Peak fundamental frequency of the call
- type: call type (‘cf’ indicates call type c and fundamental)
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- Treatment: Which treatment the bird experienced for this sample (Control, Restriction)
- Sex: M or F
- Hour: The hour of sampling (1,2,3,4)
- BirdID: Unique identifier for each bird
File: Tir_Watts2025_Activity.csv
Description: Activity data during each food manipulation trial
Variables
- BirdID: Unique identifier for each bird
- Sex: M or F
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- Treatment: Which treatment the bird experienced for this sample (Control, Restriction)
- Day: Day of experiment (integer)
- Hour: The hour (1, 2, 3, 4) within each time category (M, A, N)
- TimeCategory: Morning, Afternoon, Night
- activity_total: The count of movements
- activity_offset: The number of ten-minute bins included in the hourly total
File: Tir_Watts2025_BodyMass.csv
Description: Body mass measurements before and after each food manipulation
Variables
- Date_Pre: Date that pre-trial mass was measured
- Date_Post: Date that post-trial mass was measured
- BirdID: Unique identifier for each bird
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- Sex: M or F
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- Treatment: Which treatment the bird was experiencing during this data collection (Control, Restriction)
- Mass_Pre: Body mass before the trial in grams
- Mass_Post: Body mass after the trial in grams
- Mass_Delta: The change in body mass (in grams) that occurred during the trial (Post minus Pre)
Files: Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeP.csv, Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeB.csv, Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeR.csv, Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeC.csv, Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeZ.csv, Tir_Watts2025_CallCounts_TypeT.csv
Description: These files have the the number of calls of produced for each of the six call types. Each call type is represented in a different file with the call type indicated in the file name.
Variables
- BirdID: Unique identifier for each bird
- Treatment: Which treatment the bird experienced for this sample (Control, Restriction)
- TimeCategory: Morning, Afternoon, Night
- Day: Day of experiment (integer)
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- Sex: M or F
- n: the total number of calls of the type produced by that individual in that time period
File: Tir_Watts2025_CORT.csv
Description: Pre- and post- trial plasma corticosterone data
Variables
- SampleID: Unique identifier for each sample
- Plate: Which plate the sample was located on
- BirdID: Which plate the sample was located on
- SampleDate: The date that the blood sample was taken in Day-Month format
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- Sex: M or F
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- Treat: Which treatment the bird experienced for this sample (Control, Restriction)
- PrePost: : Whether the sample is pre- or post- food manipulation
- FinalConc: The plasma corticosterone concentration (ng/mL)
File: Tir\&Watts2025_TotalCalls.csv
Description: Data on the total number of calls produced during food manipulation trails
Variables:
- BirdID: Unique identifier for each bird
- Sex: M or F
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- Treatment: Which treatment the bird experienced for this sample (Control, Restriction)
- Day: Day of experiment (integer)
- TimeCategory: Morning, Afternoon, Night
- n: the total number of calls produced by that individual in that time period
File: Tir\&Watts2025_TypeC_subsample.csv
Description: Data on the acoustic properties (i.e., frequencies) of exemplar calls of type c
Variables
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- Treatment: Which treatment the bird experienced for this sample (Control, Restriction)
- BirdID: Unique identifier for each bird
- Sex: M or F
- Hour: The hour of sampling (1,2,3,4)
- type: call type
- Freq_5: Minimum frequency (5th percentile) of the call
- Freq_95: Maximum frequency (95th percentile) of the call
- Freq_Peak: Peak dominant frequency of the call
- Freq_Center: Median frequency of the call
File: Tir\&Watts2025_TypeB_subsample.csv
Description: Data on the acoustic properties (i.e., frequencies) of exemplar calls of type b
Variables
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- Treatment: Which treatment the bird experienced for this sample (Control, Restriction)
- BirdID: Unique identifier for each bird
- Sex: M or F
- Hour: The hour of sampling (1,2,3,4)
- type: call type
- Freq_5: Minimum frequency (5th percentile) of the call
- Freq_95: Maximum frequency (95th percentile) of the call
- Freq_Peak: Peak frequency of the call
- Freq_Center: Median frequency of the call
File: Tir\&Watts2025_TypeC_Syllables.csv
Description: Data on the number of syllables type c call bout exemplars
Variables
- Group: Experimental block (1, 2, 3)
- Treatment: Which treatment the bird experienced for this sample (Control, Restriction)
- BirdID: Unique identifier for each bird
- Sex: M or F
- WhichFirst: Which treatment the bird experienced first (Control, Restriction)
- total_syll: count of syllables in call bout
Code/software
Files are in .csv format.