From: Simona Sanvito <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Subject: Recent paper on elephant seal vocalizations Date: Fri, 22 Aug 2003 11:10:49 EDT
Dear list members, The following paper appeared in Volume 14 (1) of the journal Bioacoustics. Reprints are available in PDF formats (ca 600 K); please send request to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Best regards Simona Sanvito P.S.: sorry for cross posting ====================== Sanvito, S. & Galimberti, F. 2003. Source level of male vocalizations in the genus Mirounga: repeatability and correlates Bioacoustics 14(1): 47-59. ABSTRACT Male vocalizations have an important role in mating tactics, breeding strategies and sexual selection. Most studies of vocalizations were concentrated on time and frequency domain, while the intensity of sound, an important acoustic parameter that should be related to body size, was almost completely ignored as a possible honest signal of resource holding potential, and cue for mate choice. In this paper, we analyse the repeatability, the correlations with age and size, and the relationship with breeding status of source level (SL) of male vocalizations in the two species of elephant seals (Mirounga leonina and M. angustirostris). We found an high repeatability of SL, equal or higher than the repeatability of frequency domain parameters estimated in a previous study. Southern elephant seal males were significantly larger and produces significantly more powerful vocalizations than northern males. Moreover, in each species SL was related to age, body size, and breeding status of males, but relationships were weak, and explained just a small proportion of variance of SL. We conclude that, although SL may be an honest signal of gross differences of RHP, it is not, by itself, a good candidate for the transmission of high resolution information on individual phenotype. A combination of SL and frequency components could be, on the contrary, an effective way to communicate RHP. ---------------------------- Simona Sanvito, PhD candidate Biology Dept. Memorial University of Newfoundland St. John's, NF, A1B 3X9 CANADA "There are some enterprises in which a careful disorderliness is the true method" Herman Melville, Moby Dick
