Abstract Geographic variation in acoustic signals has been investigated for five decades to better understand the evolution of communication. When receivers are able to discriminate among signals and to react accordingly, geographic variation can have major impacts on the ability of conspecifics to communicate. Surprisingly, geographic variation in alarm calls and its consequences for the communication process have been so far neglected despite their crucial role on individual survival. Working with four wild populations of Alpine marmots ( Marmota marmota ), we found differences in the acoustic structure of their alarm calls. These differences cannot be explained by geographic or genetic distances but more likely by other mechanisms including random processes. Moreover, playback experiments provided evidence that receivers discriminate between alarm calls from their own versus other populations, with responses at lower intensity when the alarm calls played back originated from their own population. Research on the mechanistic causes of geographic variation and on the relationship between alarm call variation, familiarity, and intelligibility of signal and behavioral responses is now required to better understand how predation pressure, and more widely natural selection, could drive the evolution of communication. Significance statement Dialects (i.e., geographic variation) can have major impacts on the ability of conspecifics to communicate. Surprisingly, dialects in alarm calls have been neglected despite their crucial role on survival of individuals. Alpine marmots have dialects in alarm calls and discriminate their own dialects from others, being more frightened by alarm calls from another population than by those from their own. Confronted with an unknown dialect, marmots may adopt a self-preserving strategy and choose to run away before assessing the danger.

中文翻译：

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土拨鼠警报呼叫的地理变化导致不同的反应

摘要 声学信号的地理变化已经被研究了五个十年，以更好地理解通信的演变。当接收器能够区分信号并做出相应反应时，地理差异会对同种动物的交流能力产生重大影响。令人惊讶的是，尽管警报呼叫的地理变化及其对通信过程的影响对个体生存至关重要，但迄今为止却被忽视了。研究了四个野生高山土拨鼠 ( Marmota marmota ) 种群，我们发现它们发出警报的声音结构存在差异。这些差异不能用地理或遗传距离来解释，而更有可能用其他机制（包括随机过程）来解释。而且，回放实验提供的证据表明，接收者区分来自他们自己人群和其他人群的警报呼叫，当回放的警报呼叫来自他们自己的人群时，响应强度较低。现在需要研究地理变异的机械原因以及警报变化、熟悉度和信号和行为反应的可理解性之间的关系，以更好地了解捕食压力和更广泛的自然选择如何推动通信的进化。重要性声明 方言（即地理差异）可以对同种人的交流能力产生重大影响。令人惊讶的是，尽管方言对个人生存至关重要，但警报呼叫中的方言却被忽视了。高山土拨鼠在报警时有方言，并能将自己的方言与其他人的方言区分开来，比起自己的人，它们更害怕来自其他种群的警报声。面对陌生的方言，土拨鼠可能会采取自我保护的策略，在评估危险之前选择逃跑。