Communication and predation in scrubwrens: alarm calls and eavesdropping

动物的行为，包括声音交流，是由被捕食者杀死的风险决定的。许多动物会发出警报声，潜在地警告其他动物有危险，所有动物都面临着这样的风险，即为同种动物发出的警报声可能会被捕食者听到。我们将使用对鸟类的观察和回放实验来测试警报呼叫中传达的信息，并测量捕食者窃听幼鸟呼叫的风险。这项工作以前从未在野生鸟类身上进行过，将有助于理解非人类对环境的交流和信号的设计。

Animal behaviour, including acoustic communication, is shaped by the risk of being killed by predators. Many animals give alarm calls, potentially warning others of danger, and all face the risk that calls intended for conspecifics might be overheard by predators. We will use observations and playback experiments on birds to test what information is conveyed in alarm calls, and measure the risk of predators eavesdropping on the calls of young birds. Such work has never before been carried out on wild birds, and will contribute to the understanding of non-human communication about the environment and the design of signals.