Singing as a handicap : the effects of food availability and weather on song output in the Australian reed warbler Acrocephalus australis Berg, Mathew L., Beintema, Nienke H., Welbergen, Justin A. and Komdeur, Jan 2005, Singing as a handicap : the effects of food availability and weather on song output in the Australian reed warbler Acrocephalus australis, Journal of avian biology, vol. 36, no. 2, pp. 102-109, doi: 10.1111/j.0908-8857.2005.03285.x. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title Singing as a handicap : the effects of food availability and weather on song output in the Australian reed warbler Acrocephalus australis Author(s) Berg, Mathew L. orcid.org/0000-0002-5774-3089 Beintema, Nienke H. Welbergen, Justin A. Komdeur, Jan Journal name Journal of avian biology Volume number 36 Issue number 2 Start page 102 End page 109 Total pages 8 Publisher Wiley-Blackwell Place of publication Copenhagen, Denmark Publication date 2005 ISSN 0908-8857 1600-048X Summary Bird song is generally regarded as a sexually selected trait, and may represent a reliable handicap signal under at least certain conditions. Females may use the degree of male song production as a reliable cue to male condition or territory quality. We investigated the effect of supplementary feeding on song output in the migratory Australian reed warbler Acrocephalus australis. We experimentally increased the food availability on alternate days, and recorded several weather variables. We measured song rate and song length independently. Supplementary fed birds sang more on feeding days than on non-feeding days, while control birds did not show this effect. Song output was not significantly associated with any of the weather variables examined. Our results indicate that singing has the potential to serve as a reliable handicap signal to territorial food availability irrespective of the prevailing weather conditions. We discuss the role of energetic constraints and behavioural flexibility on the signaling function of song. Language eng DOI 10.1111/j.0908-8857.2005.03285.x Field of Research 060201 Behavioural Ecology Socio Economic Objective 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences HERDC Research category C1.1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2005, Wiley-Blackwell Publishing Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30025937 Document type: Journal Article Collection: Centre for Integrative Ecology Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 26 Mar 2010, 13:11:43 EST Fri, 09 Apr 2010, 10:37:48 EST Wed, 14 Apr 2010, 11:33:53 EST Mon, 16 Jun 2014, 15:07:00 EST Mon, 30 Jun 2014, 10:24:39 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 41 times in TR Web of Science Cited 44 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 877 Abstract Views, 0 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Fri, 26 Mar 2010, 13:11:43 EST