DOI: 10.5061/dryad.xgxd254h9
title: Zebra finch song and distance call amplitude measurements: A transmission experiment and observational transects in the natural environment

description: Birdsong is typically seen as a long-range signal functioning in mate
 attraction and territory defense. Among birds, the zebra finch is the
 prime model organism in bioacoustics, yet almost exclusively studied in
 the lab. In the wild, however, zebra finch song differs strikingly from
 songbirds commonly studied in the wild as zebra finch males sing most
 after mating and in the absence of territoriality. Using data from the
 wild, we here provide an ecological context for a wealth of laboratory
 studies. By integrating calibrated sound recordings, sound transmission
 experiments and social ecology of zebra finches in the wild with insights
 from hearing physiology we show that wild zebra finch song is a very
 short-range signal with an audible range of about nine meters and that
 even the louder distance calls do not carry much farther (up to about
 fourteen meters). These integrated findings provide an ecological context
 for the interpretation of laboratory studies of this species and indicate
 that the vocal communication distance of the main laboratory species for
 avian acoustics contrasts strikingly with songbirds that use their song as
 a long-range advertisement signal.
description: This dataset contains data from three studies which together give
 an integrated perspective on wild zebra finch communication distance. The
 data was collected in UNSW Fowlers Gap Arid Zone Research Station in New
 South Wales, Australia, home to a well-studied population of wild zebra
 finches. The three parts are: a)
 Calibrated recordings of wild zebra finch songs and distance calls,
 conducted in 2018. This dataset contains root mean square measurements of
 the loudest 125 ms of zebra finch song motifs and (male and female)
 distance calls. b) A transmission experiment of zebra
 finch song and distance calls in the natural environment, conducted in
 2018. This dataset contains root mean square measurements of the loudest
 125 ms of transmitted zebra finch song and distance calls (broadcasted at
 average natural amplitude as determined in part a), which were bandpass
 filtered based on bird hearing and compared with zebra finch hearing
 curves. The vocalisations were re-recorded at 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128
 and 256 m in several different transects that represent a range of zebra
 finch habitats in our study site (from quite barren to relatively
 shrubby). We also included the Matlab script (on linked Zenodo) that we
 used to analyse our recordings which can be relatively easily adapted to
 analyse one's own transmission experiment in the same way.
 c) Observational transects during which zebra finch group size
 and song presence was scored, conducted in 2018 and 2019. This dataset
 contains annotated gps points, which we used to give ecological context to
 the previous two parts (a and b). For further details
 on how the data was collected, we refer to the (open access) related
 article.
description: We included a readme file which contains explanations on all
 files that are part of this dataset, e.g. which are the raw datasets,
 which are the processed ones, and which are the files to process raw into
 processed files. The readme contains information on all elements, but the
 software elements (R, python and Matlab code) are uploaded to
 Zenodo. For the calibrated recordings, if a measurement
 is from a non-focal individual, this measurement is likely not accurate
 enough, which is why we omitted it in our manuscript. Please do not use
 our non-focal individuals for drawing conclusions on vocalisation
 amplitude.