Birds use social as well as environmental cues to inform their habitat selection decisions. By manipulating social cues with song playbacks, biologists can influence where individuals search for breeding territories, which could be useful for conservation. Yet before we can predict how birds will respond to playback treatments, we must first understand how they integrate social cues with information about habitat quality at different stages in the habitat selection process. In this experiment, we examined whether vegetation structure and/or social cues affected Black-and-white Warbler Mniotilta varia abundance at three study areas that differed in habitat quality. We monitored Black-and-white Warbler habitat use across the breeding season, from the early prospecting period until after settlement decisions were made. During seasons without playback treatments, Black-and-white Warbler abundance was positively associated with levels of understorey vegetation cover. We then played Black-and-white Warbler songs daily for 5–6 weeks at selected survey sites at all study areas. We found that the model-predicted abundance of Black-and-white Warblers was nearly three times greater at playback sites than at control sites during the prospecting period. During seasons with playbacks, understorey vegetation cover was no longer associated with Black-and-white Warbler abundance, indicating that individuals prioritized social information when searching for breeding territories. However, during the post-settlement period, neither playbacks nor levels of understorey vegetation cover were associated with increased abundance, suggesting that playback treatments did not influence final breeding territory choice. We also found no difference in abundance between playback and control sites at a study area that represented low-quality habitat, which suggests that playbacks should not induce maladaptive site selection.

中文翻译：

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社会信息影响探矿，但不影响定居，由黑白莺（Mniotilta varia）

鸟类使用社会和环境线索来告知它们的栖息地选择决定。通过用歌曲回放来操纵社会线索，生物学家可以影响个体寻找繁殖区域的位置，这可能对保护有用。然而，在我们预测鸟类对回放处理的反应之前，我们必须首先了解它们如何将社会线索与栖息地选择过程中不同阶段的栖息地质量信息相结合。在这个实验中，我们检查了植被结构和/或社会线索是否影响了黑白莺Mniotilta varia栖息地质量不同的三个研究区域的丰度。我们在整个繁殖季节监测了黑白莺栖息地的使用，从早期的勘探期到做出定居决定之后。在没有回放处理的季节中，黑白莺的丰度与下层植被覆盖水平呈正相关。然后，我们每天在所有研究区域的选定调查地点播放黑白莺歌曲，持续 5-6 周。我们发现，在勘探期间，模型预测的黑白莺在回放站点的丰度几乎是控制站点的三倍。在有回放的季节，下层植被不再与黑白莺丰富度相关，表明个体在寻找繁殖地时优先考虑社会信息。然而，在定居后时期，回放或下层植被覆盖水平都与丰度增加无关，这表明回放处理不会影响最终的繁殖区域选择。我们还发现，在代表低质量栖息地的研究区域中，回放和控制站点之间的丰度没有差异，这表明回放不应导致不适应的站点选择。