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Dryad

Competition for acoustic space in a temperate-forest bird community

Staniewicz, Agata1; Sokołowska, Emilia1; Muszyńska, Adrianna1; Budka, Michał1

Published Sep 11, 2023 on Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.73n5tb339

Data files

Sep 11, 2023 version files 3.67 GB

Abstract

Animals that communicate by acoustic signaling share a common acoustic environment. Birds are particularly vocal examples, using a wide repertoire of songs and calls for mate attraction and territorial defense. However, interference caused by sounds that overlap in frequency and time can disrupt signal detection and reduce reproductive success. This may be particularly important in temperate regions where breeding is restricted to short seasonal windows. Here we investigated competition avoidance mechanisms used by the bird community inhabiting a primeval lowland temperate forest in Białowieża, Eastern Poland. We recorded morning soundscapes at 84 locations in early and late spring and calculated song dissimilarity indices to examine how species with greater song similarities use spatial and temporal partitioning to avoid competition for acoustic space throughout the breeding season. The bird community changed its use of acoustic space throughout the day and season. Birds did not use spatial acoustic niche partitioning when we looked at recording locations over the whole study period, but they did in a seasonal context, with species more acoustically different than expected by chance recorded at the same point on the same day. Our results also indicate that daily temporal niche partitioning may only occur at certain times before sunrise, with no evidence of large-scale temporal partitioning between species vocalizing during the same one-minute recordings in daytime. These results contribute toward our understanding of the evolution of bird communication, and highlight the strategies employed by different species to optimize their acoustic niche.