Stream noise induces song plasticity and a shift to visual signals in a riverine songbird.

Environmental noise can severely impair acoustic communication, thereby affecting key behaviors such as predator avoidance, territory defense, and reproduction. Persistent noise in some habitats is thought to have favored the emergence of multimodal communication systems. Multimodal signals, which integrate information across several sensory channels, can enhance signal detection and improve message clarity in challenging environments.

Ecological and demographic drivers of kin-directed cooperation in a social bird: Insights from a long-term study.

The evolution of sociality is one of the major evolutionary transitions in the history of life and a key step in this transition is the occurrence of kin associations. Yet, the question of what demographic processes and environmental factors generate kin-structured populations and drive kin-directed cooperation remains open. In this review, we synthesise 30 years of studies of the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus, which has a kin-selected cooperative breeding system with redirected help: failed breeders may help to raise offspring of conspecifics, typically relatives, breeding nearby.

The genome sequence of the white-throated dipper, (Linnaeus, 1758).

We present a genome assembly from a juvenile male (the white-throated dipper; Chordata; Aves; Passeriformes; Cinclidae). The genome sequence has a total length of 1,170.80 megabases.

Assessing variability in marine traffic exposure between baleen whale species off the Galician Coast, Spain.

Increases in marine traffic represent a growing issue for marine wildlife, posing threats through the impacts of ship strikes and noise pollution. Baleen whales are especially vulnerable to these impacts, yet regional and species-specific information on exposure to such threats is lacking. This study uses AIS and observational data to provide the first assessment of baleen whale exposure to vessel traffic on the NW coast of Spain.

Flyway-scale analysis reveals that the timing of migration in wading birds is becoming later.

Understanding the implications of climate change for migratory animals is paramount for establishing how best to conserve them. A large body of evidence suggests that birds are migrating earlier in response to rising temperatures, but many studies focus on single populations of model species.Migratory patterns at large spatial scales may differ from those occurring in single populations, for example because of individuals dispersing outside of study areas.

Cost, risk, and avoidance of inbreeding in a cooperatively breeding bird.

Inbreeding is often avoided in natural populations by passive processes such as sex-biased dispersal. But, in many social animals, opposite-sexed adult relatives are spatially clustered, generating a risk of incest and hence selection for active inbreeding avoidance. Here we show that, in long-tailed tits (), a cooperative breeder that risks inbreeding by living alongside opposite-sex relatives, inbreeding carries fitness costs and is avoided by active kin discrimination during mate choice.

Sex-independent senescence in a cooperatively breeding mammal.

Researchers studying mammals have frequently interpreted earlier or faster rates of ageing in males as resulting from polygyny and the associated higher costs of reproductive competition. Yet, few studies conducted on wild populations have compared sex-specific senescence trajectories outside of polygynous species, making it difficult to make generalized inferences on the role of reproductive competition in driving senescence, particularly when other differences between males and females might also contribute to sex-specific changes in performance across lifespan. Here, we examine age-related variation in body mass, reproductive output and survival in dominant male and female meerkats, Suricata suricatta.

The effect of early life conditions on song traits in male dippers (Cinclus cinclus).

Song complexity and singing frequency in male birds are shaped by female choice; they signal male quality because song is costly to develop and produce. The timing of song learning and the development of the brain structures involved occur during a period when chicks are exposed to a number of potential stressors. The quality and quantity of song produced by adults may therefore reflect the level of stress experienced during early life, a theory known as the 'developmental stress hypothesis'.

Carnivore hotspots in Peninsular Malaysia and their landscape attributes.

Mammalian carnivores play a vital role in ecosystem functioning. However, they are prone to extinction because of low population densities and growth rates, and high levels of persecution or exploitation. In tropical biodiversity hotspots such as Peninsular Malaysia, rapid conversion of natural habitats threatens the persistence of this vulnerable group of animals.

Fine-scale genetic structure and helping decisions in a cooperatively breeding bird.

In animal societies, characteristic demographic and dispersal patterns may lead to genetic structuring of populations, generating the potential for kin selection to operate. However, even in genetically structured populations, social interactions may still require kin discrimination for cooperative behaviour to be directed towards relatives. Here, we use molecular genetics and long-term field data to investigate genetic structure in an adult population of long-tailed tits Aegithalos caudatus, a cooperative breeder in which helping occurs within extended kin networks, and relate this to patterns of helping with respect to kinship.

Ecological and demographic correlates of helping behaviour in a cooperatively breeding bird.

The evolution of cooperation is a persistent problem for evolutionary biologists. In particular, understanding of the factors that promote the expression of helping behaviour in cooperatively breeding species remains weak, presumably because of the diverse nature of ecological and demographic drivers that promote sociality. In this study, we use data from a long-term study of a facultative cooperative breeder, the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus, to investigate the factors influencing annual variation in helping behaviour.

Kinship affects investment by helpers in a cooperatively breeding bird.

Helping behaviour in cooperative breeding systems has been attributed to kin selection, but the relative roles of direct and indirect fitness benefits in the evolution of such systems remain a matter of debate. In theory, helpers could maximize the indirect fitness benefits of cooperation by investing more in broods with whom they are more closely related, but there is little evidence for such fine-scale adjustment in helper effort among cooperative vertebrates. In this study, we used the unusual cooperative breeding system of the long-tailed tit Aegithalos caudatus to test the hypothesis that the provisioning effort of helpers was positively correlated with their kinship to broods.

Reproductive senescence in a cooperatively breeding mammal.

1. Senescence (or 'ageing') is a widespread and important process in wild animal populations, but variation in ageing patterns within and between species is poorly understood. 2.

Independent colonization of multiple urban centres by a formerly forest specialist bird species.

Urban areas are expanding rapidly, but a few native species have successfully colonized them. The processes underlying such colonization events are poorly understood. Using the blackbird Turdus merula, a former forest specialist that is now one of the most common urban birds in its range, we provide the first assessment of two contrasting urban colonization models.

Dispersal of sibling coalitions promotes helping among immigrants in a cooperatively breeding bird.

Kin selection is a major force in social evolution, but dispersal is often assumed to reduce its impact by diluting kinship. In most cooperatively breeding vertebrates, in which more than two individuals care for young, juveniles delay dispersal and become helpers in family groups. In long-tailed tits (Aegithalos caudatus), however, offspring disperse to breed and helpers are failed breeders that preferentially aid kin.

Learned kin recognition cues in a social bird.

In many cooperatively breeding birds, kin selection has an important role in the evolution and maintenance of social behaviour, and 'helpers' can maximize indirect fitness gains by preferentially allocating care to close relatives. Although there is evidence for kin-biased helping behaviour in several species, the mechanism of kin recognition underlying this behaviour is poorly understood. Vocalizations are the most commonly used cues in avian recognition systems, but the effectiveness of vocal signals as reliable recognition cues must depend on how they are acquired.