Research suggests that personalities (i.e. behavioral syndromes) also exist in non-human animals. By definition, a behavioral syndrome is a behavior that is consistent across multiple situations. In this research we proposed to assess the extent of behavioral syndromes and the formation of a pecking order in the Northern Cardinal (Cardinalis cardinalis).

If Cardinals exhibit behavioral syndromes, individuals who are dominant at a common food source (bird feeder), should also be more aggressive towards territorial intruders. However, if dominance hierarchies are not indicative of behavioral syndromes, there should be no correlation between behavior at a feeder and behavior in the face of an intruder.

Elizabeth A. Quasebarth and Gabriel J. Colbeck

Introduction:

Abstract:

A Preliminary Evaluation of Dominance and Behavioral

Syndromes in Northern Cardinals

We hoped to test whether the presence of a dominance hierarchy was indicative of behavioral syndromes in a population of Northern Cardinals. It is expected that an individual higher in dominance will display aggression across multiple contexts, while a less dominant individual will display more timid behaviors.

We planned to test this hypothesis through the banding of individuals, observations of interactions, and song play back experiments. Impeding our plans, the Cardinals we studied exhibited very little territorial behavior and many of the banded birds were not seen past the banding date.

Methods:• Catch and mark ~20 individuals, from the cardinal population at

Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center, with unique color band combinations• Conduct behavioral observations for ~3 hours/day, 5 times a

week to determine individual territories, dominance hierarchies, and to collect song recordings• Test the responsiveness of marked individuals with simulated

territorial intrusion assays (e.g., Colbeck et al. 2010) in which we place a speaker in an individual's territory, play back the song of a stranger, and measure the individual's response• Analyze recorded songs with Raven software to determine if

there are differences in the songs of dominant and submissive individuals

Results: Figure 1. Morphological Data on captured and banded birds: Females are in blue, males are in green. Error bars represent 95% confidence intervals.

Figure 2. Maps of Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center: 1A shows the compiled locations of all observed individuals. Red triangles represent males. Purple circles represent females. Green squares represent juveniles. 1B shows the locations of successful banding attempts (red circles with bird numbers) and locations of successful recording attempts (blue squares with recording numbers).

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Figure 2. Samples of recorded songs: Spectrographs of a sample of recordings taken from males at Powder Valley. X-axis is time (ms) and the Y-axis is frequency (kHz). Each individual note is highlighted and numbered for analysis. 2A -recording 1008. 2B- recording 1015. 2C- recording 1019.

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Figure 3. Summary song statistics from recorded birds. Error bars represent 95% Confidence Intervals.

Conclusions:We found that the Northern Cardinals at Powder Valley engaged in

far less territorial interactions than would be expected during peak breeding season. Also, all but one were not seen again beyond the day they were banded. Overall, we were unable to observe any aggressive interactions, distinguish territories, or assess dominance. We did, however, collect a small number of songs, song analysis data, morphological data of the individuals banded, and were able to create a map of where the population is concentrated.

Discussion:The unprecedented drought this summer could have easily caused

the lack of sightings of banded birds. The high temperatures and lack of water could have killed off many individuals or forced birds to leave their typical habitat. It did cause the cardinals to breed only once, as opposed to the typical twice a season, which forced the breeding season to be unusually short and made territorial behavior unnecessary and possibly life threatening.

The constant availability of a food source could have caused the Cardinals at Powder Valley to become less competitive for their resources. It could have also caused the birds to become desensitized to one another, since they all shared the single food source. Being desensitized and less competitive would cause the Cardinals to react less, if at all, to a territorial intruder.

Future work: We hope to use this data as a jumping off point for future ‘personality’ studies in local cardinals, and plan to look for genetic and song differences between local cardinals and those elsewhere.

Powder Valley Conservation Area. Typical habitat at Powder Valley, where all of our research was conducted

Nest of the Northern Cardinal with two eggs. Some of our future work will focus on collecting blood samples from chicks and inferring patterns of paternity.

Acknowledgments: We would like to thank Larry Grieshaber and the Maryville University UGRS committee for providing the funding and support that made this research possible

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