The Saffron finch (Sicalis flaveola) modifies its vocalizations to adapt to urban habitats

Abstract

Urban and suburban ecosystems are areas that, despite of being modified by human activities, can sustaina large amount of biodiversity. Acoustic field alterations affect communication among animals, threatening thepopulations’ stability dynamics. In birds, where acoustic communication take place at a certain distance, signalsthat reach the receptor may differ from those emitted, due to song degradation and acoustic pollution. In order tosecure communication, species have to modify their vocalizations in different ways. We studied songs of the Saffronfinch (Sicalis flaveola) at 2 sites with different levels of acoustic pollution. At the most polluted site, songs showedshorter trills with higher frequencies (max and min), and preludes with lower maximum frequencies. This is the firstcontribution on the vocalization’s structure of the Saffron Finch at the study area, and provides new evidence on theeffects that acoustic pollution produces on it. None of known song hypothesis was able to explain by itself the changesin song structure found in this study. Thus, this species adjusts its vocalizations to acoustic pollution in different wayssimultaneously, depending on the species’ inner capacities.