ARPHA Conference Abstracts : Conference Abstract
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Conference Abstract
The masked singer: vocalization in the Garden Dormouse (Eliomys quercinus)
expand article infoHolger U. Meinig, Teresa Fee Nava§, Sarah Thivierge|,, Sven Büchner#,¤, Johannes Lang§
‡ 1Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Clinic for birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, Working Group for Wildlife Research, Giessen, Germany
§ Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Clinic for birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, Working Group for Wildlife Research, Giessen, Germany
| University of Bonn, Regina-Pacis-Weg 3, D-53113, Bonn, Germany
¶ Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change, Zoological Research Museum Alexander Koenig, Center for Biodiversity Monitoring, section Conservation Ecology, Adenauerallee 160 (mailing adress 127), D-53113, Bonn, Germany
# Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, Clinic for birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish, Working Group for Wildlife Research, Frankfurter Strasse 114, 35392 Giessen, Germany
¤ Senckenberg Museum of Natural History Görlitz; Am Museum 1, 02826 Görlitz, Germany
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Abstract

Many animals make sounds for various reasons, mostly for mating and agonistic behaviour, but also for more complex social communication. These sounds are used for mapping and monitoring many animal groups and species (e.g. birds, bats, whales, grasshoppers, crickets) for mapping and monitoring. Although Glirids are known to use sounds for communication, to our knowledge vocalisations have only been used to map the Edible Dormouse. We checked the possibility of detecting the Garden Dormouse calls and used oscillograms and spectrograms to analyze these sounds. Garden Dormouse calls were recorded as mp4 files and converted to WAV format for this purpose. In combination with video recordings, the vocalisations could often be associated with the respective behaviour of the animals. Most analysed calls were related to apparent arousal, intraspecific aggression, mating or social communication within a family group between old and young animals. Some of the different calls are not yet clearly understood in their ethological context. Regardless of this, Garden Dormouse vocalizations can be clearly assigned to the species and distinguished from other species. It therefore provides a new method for mapping this species. When Garden Dormice mainly call in urban habitats, human impacts like habitat fragmentation, direct disturbance or noise pollution may challenge their acoustic behaviour in this environment.

Keywords

In Search of the Garden Dormouse, animal communication, bioacoustics, small mammals

Presenting author

Holger U. Meinig

Presented at

Poster presentation at the 11th International Dormice Conference (May 9-13, 2022)

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