Journal
PLOS ONE
Volume 16, Issue 2, Pages -Publisher
PUBLIC LIBRARY SCIENCE
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0246564
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Fulbright ASEAN Research Award for U.S. Scholars
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The study on vocal behavior of Bornean great argus pheasants in Sabah, Malaysia, revealed that they were more likely to emit short calls in the morning and less likely to call during rain. Nighttime calling activity increased during new moon periods and decreased during rainy periods.
Great argus pheasants are known for their elaborate visual mating displays, but relatively little is known about their general ecology. The use of passive acoustic monitoring-which relies on long-term autonomous recorders-can provide insight into the behavior of visually cryptic, yet vocal species such as the great argus. Here we report the results of an analysis of vocal behavior of the Bornean great argus (Argusianus argus grayi) in Sabah, Malaysia, using data collected with 11 autonomous recording units. Great argus regularly emitted two call types, the long call and the short call, and we found that although both call types were emitted throughout the day, the short calls were more likely to occur during the morning hours (06:00-12:00LT). Great argus were less likely to call if there was rain, irrespective of the time of day. A substantial portion of calls at our site (similar to 20%) were emitted between the hours of 18:00-06:00LT. We found that for nighttime calls, calling activity increased during new moon periods and decreased during periods of rain. We attribute the negative influence of rain on calling to increased energetic costs of thermoregulation during wet periods, and propose that the influence of the lunar cycle may be related to increased predation risk during periods with high levels of moonlight. Little is known about the behavioral ecology of great argus on Borneo, so it is difficult to know if the results we report are typical, or if we would see differences in calling activity patterns depending on breeding season or changes in food availability. We advocate for future studies of great argus pheasant populations using paired camera and acoustic recorders, which can provide further insight into the behavior of this cryptic species.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available