Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia

Urbanisation has caused an increase in the anthropogenic noise and changes in environmental gradients in urban areas. These two variables have been shown to alter urban birds’ vocal communication structure in past studies. By using a common and vocally active bird species of urban areas in Malays...

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Main Author: Mohd Hanafi, Nur Shafinaz
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89956/1/FPAS%202019%2014%20ir.pdf
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author Mohd Hanafi, Nur Shafinaz
author_facet Mohd Hanafi, Nur Shafinaz
author_sort Mohd Hanafi, Nur Shafinaz
collection UPM
description Urbanisation has caused an increase in the anthropogenic noise and changes in environmental gradients in urban areas. These two variables have been shown to alter urban birds’ vocal communication structure in past studies. By using a common and vocally active bird species of urban areas in Malaysia, i.e. Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis), this study described the territorial songs of the Oriental Magpie Robin; compared the bird’s vocalisation in relation to anthropogenic noise present in the urban, suburban and rural areas in Peninsular Malaysia; and assessed the effects of urban environmental factors on the bird’s vocalisation. The study was carried out in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan between January and June 2017. Ambient factors (i.e. ambient noise, environment temperature, relative humidity and light intensity) and landscape factors (i.e. distances to building and major roads) were measured during sampling. Territorial songs of the bird were recorded and transcribed into spectrograms from which six parameters namely low frequency, high frequency, frequency ranges, length of strophe, number of elements per strophe, and time interval between strophes were derived. In urban areas, low frequency of song was found to increase significantly as compared to suburban and rural areas. The difference in noise, temperature and relative humidity in urban and suburban environment had led to both single and interaction effects towards the Oriental Magpie Robin’s song parameters, i.e. low frequency, length of strophe, time interval between strophes and number of element per strophe. The results showed that the Oriental Magpie Robin had adapted to urban condition by regulating and altering their frequency of song. This implied that the Oriental Magpie Robin have the ability to alter their vocalisations according to certain habitat condition. Such vocal alteration and adjustment are expected to be important in ensuring the efficiency in transmission of songs and it is a form of species behavioural adaptation in different habitat types and condition. This study also found that the Oriental Magpie Robin is likely to have opportunistic-switch plasticity and this may explain the reasons why certain urban bird species are less susceptible to urbanisation.
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spelling upm.eprints-899562021-12-03T08:06:17Z http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89956/ Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia Mohd Hanafi, Nur Shafinaz Urbanisation has caused an increase in the anthropogenic noise and changes in environmental gradients in urban areas. These two variables have been shown to alter urban birds’ vocal communication structure in past studies. By using a common and vocally active bird species of urban areas in Malaysia, i.e. Oriental Magpie Robin (Copsychus saularis), this study described the territorial songs of the Oriental Magpie Robin; compared the bird’s vocalisation in relation to anthropogenic noise present in the urban, suburban and rural areas in Peninsular Malaysia; and assessed the effects of urban environmental factors on the bird’s vocalisation. The study was carried out in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Selangor and Negeri Sembilan between January and June 2017. Ambient factors (i.e. ambient noise, environment temperature, relative humidity and light intensity) and landscape factors (i.e. distances to building and major roads) were measured during sampling. Territorial songs of the bird were recorded and transcribed into spectrograms from which six parameters namely low frequency, high frequency, frequency ranges, length of strophe, number of elements per strophe, and time interval between strophes were derived. In urban areas, low frequency of song was found to increase significantly as compared to suburban and rural areas. The difference in noise, temperature and relative humidity in urban and suburban environment had led to both single and interaction effects towards the Oriental Magpie Robin’s song parameters, i.e. low frequency, length of strophe, time interval between strophes and number of element per strophe. The results showed that the Oriental Magpie Robin had adapted to urban condition by regulating and altering their frequency of song. This implied that the Oriental Magpie Robin have the ability to alter their vocalisations according to certain habitat condition. Such vocal alteration and adjustment are expected to be important in ensuring the efficiency in transmission of songs and it is a form of species behavioural adaptation in different habitat types and condition. This study also found that the Oriental Magpie Robin is likely to have opportunistic-switch plasticity and this may explain the reasons why certain urban bird species are less susceptible to urbanisation. 2018-10 Thesis NonPeerReviewed text en http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89956/1/FPAS%202019%2014%20ir.pdf Mohd Hanafi, Nur Shafinaz (2018) Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia. Masters thesis, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Copsychus City noise Noise pollution
spellingShingle Copsychus
City noise
Noise pollution
Mohd Hanafi, Nur Shafinaz
Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia
title Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia
title_full Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia
title_fullStr Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia
title_full_unstemmed Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia
title_short Vocalisation of oriental magpie robin (Copsychus saularis linnaeus, 1758) in response to environmental factors in Peninsular Malaysia
title_sort vocalisation of oriental magpie robin copsychus saularis linnaeus 1758 in response to environmental factors in peninsular malaysia
topic Copsychus
City noise
Noise pollution
url http://psasir.upm.edu.my/id/eprint/89956/1/FPAS%202019%2014%20ir.pdf
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