Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
Mathieu Mahamoud-Issa
Abstract Title: Context of communal singing and mechanisms of song coordination in the Yellow-breasted barbet (Trachyphonus margaritatus), a group-living bird species that performs vocal duet and chorus.
Co-Authors: Bożena Sikora (2); Katarzyna Łosak (1); Stanisław Rusiecki (1); Tomasz S. Osiejuk (1)
Author affiliations: (1) Department of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland; (2) Department of Animal Morphology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Abstract: Cooperative behaviour is a prominent feature among many group-living species and continues to pose challenges to our understanding about the evolution of social relationships and task coordination between members of the same social group. Individuals who are willing to cooperate to achieve a joined action need to communicate their intentions and somehow make a common agreement. We investigated the contexts of emission of collective vocal displays and how such coordinated duet and chorus songs were initiated in group-living bird species, The Yellow-Breasted Barbet (Trachyphonus margaritatus). We used passive acoustic monitoring to determine the daily calling activity and the contexts when duet and chorus songs were emitted. We found that most of the collective vocal displays were emitted in the context of a between-group vocal interaction which suggested a function in joint territorial defense. We also conducted playback experiments to induce and record territorial defensive reactions from birds with a video camera. We found that barbets used a specific vocalization named "chewp" note to introduce their duet and chorus. Moreover, we found that the individual that initiated such communal displays may broadcast a multimodal signal by combining "chewp" note series with a typical body posture with the tail raised and fanned. We suggest that the multimodal signal could serve to attract attention and elicit a response from other group members or could enhance the song coordination. Finally, we investigated the temporal pattern of singing in duet songs. We found no clear evidence of interactive timing adjustments in a way that the duetters could accelerate or slow down their rhythm of singing according to their partner’s rhythmic variations.
Mathieu Mahamoud-Issa
Abstract Title: Context of communal singing and mechanisms of song coordination in the Yellow-breasted barbet (Trachyphonus margaritatus), a group-living bird species that performs vocal duet and chorus.
Co-Authors: Bożena Sikora (2); Katarzyna Łosak (1); Stanisław Rusiecki (1); Tomasz S. Osiejuk (1)
Author affiliations: (1) Department of Behavioural Ecology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland; (2) Department of Animal Morphology, Institute of Environmental Biology, Faculty of Biology, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland
Abstract: Cooperative behaviour is a prominent feature among many group-living species and continues to pose challenges to our understanding about the evolution of social relationships and task coordination between members of the same social group. Individuals who are willing to cooperate to achieve a joined action need to communicate their intentions and somehow make a common agreement. We investigated the contexts of emission of collective vocal displays and how such coordinated duet and chorus songs were initiated in group-living bird species, The Yellow-Breasted Barbet (Trachyphonus margaritatus). We used passive acoustic monitoring to determine the daily calling activity and the contexts when duet and chorus songs were emitted. We found that most of the collective vocal displays were emitted in the context of a between-group vocal interaction which suggested a function in joint territorial defense. We also conducted playback experiments to induce and record territorial defensive reactions from birds with a video camera. We found that barbets used a specific vocalization named "chewp" note to introduce their duet and chorus. Moreover, we found that the individual that initiated such communal displays may broadcast a multimodal signal by combining "chewp" note series with a typical body posture with the tail raised and fanned. We suggest that the multimodal signal could serve to attract attention and elicit a response from other group members or could enhance the song coordination. Finally, we investigated the temporal pattern of singing in duet songs. We found no clear evidence of interactive timing adjustments in a way that the duetters could accelerate or slow down their rhythm of singing according to their partner’s rhythmic variations.
