Song and morphometric comparison among Arremon taciturnus populations in Northeastern Brazil

• Main Authors: Wilmara Guedes Lucena, Erich de Freitas Mariano
• Format: Article
• Language: Portuguese
• Published: Universidade Federal de Campina Grande 2018-01-01
• Series: Acta Brasiliensis
• Online Access: http://revistas.ufcg.edu.br/ActaBra/index.php/actabra/article/view/48

Recent studies indicate that the seasonal forests of the Brazilian Northeast are formed by two distinct biogeographic units, one related to the Atlantic Coastal Forest and another to the caatinga domains. This aim intended to verify if there is any degree of morphometric and acoustic differentiation between the populations of Arremon taciturnus (Tico-tico-de-bico-preto) in high altitude forests in the Northeast of Brazil, located to the east and west of the Borborema plateau. For this purpose, parametric (t-test) and non-parametric (U-test) tests were performed according to the normality of the acoustic data, analyzing whether there is a significant difference between the vocal parameters of the populations. To verify if there are biometric differences between the studied areas a discriminant and correspondence analysis was performed. These, in turn, showed no difference. However, bioacoustic analysis pointed to differences in singing parameters such as number of notes and parameters such as duration of 1ª 2ª and 3ª notes of the second part of the song. A. taciturnus is a species that has the ability to learn the song. In this way, the differences found in some vocal parameters may be indicative of an interspecific variation in the populations, called vocal dialects.