Can mixed singing facilitate coexistence of closely related nightingale species?

Abel Souriau, Hana Kohoutová, Jiří Reif, Jana Vokurková, Adam Petrusek, Radka Reifová and Tereza Petrusková

Behavioral Ecology, 2018, vol. 29, issue 4, 925-932

Abstract: Mixed singing in songbirds is usually considered to result from erroneous learning from other species, but we suggest it might be rather adaptive. Our results show that mixed singing of Thrush Nightingale males, which incorporate songs of the Common Nightingale in their repertoires in areas where both species co-occur, may help these 2 species to establish boundaries of their territories, and thus facilitate their coexistence before divergence in ecological niches evolves.

Keywords: agonistic character displacement; bird song; mixed singing; interspecific competition; territoriality; vocal mimicry (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
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