DOI: 10.5061/dryad.1c59zw43b
title: Data from: Vocal characteristics of distress and reproductive vocalizations in North American wapiti

description: Variation in the vocal behavior of nonhuman vertebrates includes graded
 transitions and more dramatic changes. Wapiti males produce a reproductive
 bugle that has a fundamental frequency that surpasses 2,000 Hz with
 evidence of biphonation and other nonlinear phenomena. Here, we analyse
 the acoustic structure of captive wapiti vocalizations to compare the male
 bugle with three categories of distress vocalizations: neonate distress
 (capture) calls, calf isolation calls, and adult female isolation calls.
 These four high-arousal call categories serve a common general function in
 recruiting conspecifics but occur in different behavioural contexts
 (capture, isolation, reproduction). Our goal was to distinguish
 characteristics that vary in graded steps that may correspond to an
 animal’s age or size from characteristics that are unique to the bugle.
 Characteristics of the high and loud fundamental (G0) varied in an
 age/size-graded manner with a decrease in minimum G0, an increase in the
 maximum and range of G0, with no evidence of sex differences. The
 nonlinear phenomena of deterministic chaos, biphonation, and frequency
 jumps were present in all four call categories and became more common from
 the distress vocalizations of neonates to calves to adult females to the
 male bugle. Two temporal characteristics sharply distinguished the bugle
 from the three categories of distress vocalizations: these included a
 prolonged call duration and a maximum G0 that occurred much later in the
 call for the bugle than for distress vocalizations. Our results suggest
 that distress vocalizations of different age groups and the reproductive
 bugle of wapiti share a high G0, with age/size-graded changes in G0 and
 nonlinear phenomena, but differ sharply in temporal characteristics.
description: # Data from: Vocal characteristics of distress and reproductive
 vocalizations in North American wapiti **Corresponding author**: Susan
 Lingle: Department of Biology, University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, MB.
 Email: [lingle.uw@gmail.com](mailto:lingle.uw@gmail.com) This README file
 describes data for two files. The first file, “Wapiti_Raw Data.xlsx”,
 includes raw data used to calculate means, standard deviations, and
 statistical results for a mixed model ANOVA. The second file, “Averaged
 Data.xlsx”, includes data that were averaged for each individual before
 calculating the proportion of calls with each form of non-linear phenomena
 and running Kruskal-Wallis tests on non-linear phenomena. This data file
 was also used to conduct a Principal Component Analysis using the
 non-linear phenomena and a Descriptive Discriminant Analysis (DDA) using
 the averaged acoustic data for each individual. **FILENAME 1: Wapiti_Raw
 Data.xlsx** This Excel file has raw acoustic data for the wapiti, plus a
 few columns with transformed values. Data in this file were used to
 calculate the mean, SD, and ANOVA results. The file includes columns with
 data for a few variables that were not included in the final paper.
 **Column headings**: description **Call category:** This column represents
 the four call categories: neonate distress calls (1); calf isolation calls
 (2); adult female isolation calls (3); and adult male bugles (4).
 **indiv:** Each distinct entry identified a distinct individual. Each
 individual belongs to only one call category. **sex:** Male (1) or Female
 (2). **Age (days):** Represented in days since birth. These were
 calculated from the animal’s birthdate in the case of neonates and 3-5
 month old calves. Birthdates were available to the year for all adults,
 and converted to days to be consistent with the younger individuals in the
 data set. **Call ID**: This code is specific to a particular vocalization,
 with the first number representing a unique individual. **The following
 acoustic values were calculated as described in the paper**. **sig-noise**
 (Signal-to-noise) **Call dur (s**): Call duration (s) **Log10 call dur**:
 Log10 of call duration: Transformation was “Log10 (Call duration+1)”
 **TimeMaxG0_calldur**: The time of the maximum G0 expressed as a
 proportion of the call duration. **SqRtTimeG0MaxofCallDur**: The
 transformation for “TimeMaxG0” was “SqRt (TimeMaxG0_Call duration)” **Mean
 G0 (Hz)**: the average G0 during the call. **Max G0 (Hz)**: the maximum G0
 during the call. **Min G0 (Hz)**: the minimum G0 during the call. **Range
 G0 linear (Hz)**: The range of G0 expressed as a linear measurement: the
 maximum G0 minus the minimum G0. **Log10RangeG0linear**: Transformation
 for the Range G0 linear (Hz) was “Log10 (rangeG0linear +1)” **Range G0
 Mult**: The range expressed as a multiple: the maximum G0 divided by the
 minimum G0. **Inverse root rangeG0mult**: A transformation of the Range G0
 Multi. This was calculated as “(1/(sq root(range G0mult))” **HNR whole
 call**: Harmonic Noise ratio based on measurement of the full call
 duration **HNR slice**: Harmonic Noise ratio based on measurement of a
 spectral slice. This column of data was used for analyses presented in the
 paper. **Peak frequency slice**: the dominant frequency when measuring a
 spectrum produced from the spectral slice. This column of data was used
 for analyses presented in the paper. **Peak freq whole call**: the
 dominant frequency based on measuring a spectrum produced from the entire
 call. **Subharm:** Presence (1) or absence (0) of subharmonics during the
 call **Bipho:** Presence (1) or absence (0) of biphonation during the call
 **DetChaos**: Presence (1) or absence (0) of deterministic chaos during
 the call **Freq Jump**: Presence (1) or absence (0) of either ascending or
 descending frequency jumps during the call. **nlp:** The presence of any
 of the above forms of non-linear phenomena during the call. **EQ25, EQ50,
 EQ75**: The frequency (Hz) of each of three energy quartiles during each
 call. Data for EQ 25 were presented in the paper. **Mean F0 (Hz)**: the
 average value for the F0 in calls with biphonation. When no value is
 listed, the call usually did not have any visible evidence of biphonation,
 as indicated by a “0” in the “**Bipho**” column. However, there were six
 calls for which there was visible evidence of biphonation via sidebands
 (entered as a “1” in the “Bipho” column), but we could not reliably
 measure a value for F0. This included one neonate, three adult female, and
 two adult male calls. The reasons ranged from the F0 being too fleeting,
 too low in amplitude, or too inconsistent for us to measure a value
 without ambiguity based on review of the spectrogram, spectrum, and
 oscillogram. **Visible_F0_peak**: Was the F0 visible in the spectrum? 1,
 yes; 0, no. If the cell was empty, we detected no biphonation in the call.
 **FILENAME 2: Wapiti_Averaged Data.xlsx** This file has data that have
 been averaged for each individual, so that it is suitable for calculating
 the proportion of calls having each form of non-linear phenomena, and is
 also suitable for the Principal Component Analysis and the Descriptive
 Discriminant Analysis. Most column headings include “Ave” to indicate they
 represent averaged values for one individual. **Column headings**:
 description **Call category:** This column represents the four call
 categories: neonate distress calls (1); calf isolation calls (2); adult
 female isolation calls (3); and adult male bugles (4). **Individual:**
 Each distinct entry and row identifies a distinct individual. Each
 individual belongs to only one call category. **Sex:** Male (1) or Female
 (2). **Age (day):** Represented in days since birth. These were calculated
 from the animal’s birthdate in the case of neonates and 3-5 month old
 calves. Birthdates were available to the year for all adults, and
 converted to days to be consistent with the younger individuals in the
 data set. The following acoustic values were calculated as described in
 the paper. This file includes an average value for each individual for
 each of the following traits. **A. Continuous variables:** **Ave Call dur
 (s**): The average call duration (s). **Log10 AveCallDur**: Log10 of the
 average call duration: Transformation was “Log10 (Call duration+1)” **Ave
 TimeMaxG0_calldur**: The average time of the maximum G0 expressed as a
 proportion of the call duration. **SqRtAveTimeG0MaxofCallDur**: The
 transformation for AveTimeMaxG0_calldur was “SqRt (TimeMaxG0_Call
 duration)” **Ave Max G0 (Hz):** The average maximum G0 during the call.
 **Ave Min G0 (Hz)**: The average minimum G0 during the call. **Ave Range
 G0 Mult**: The average range of G0 expressed as a multiple: the maximum G0
 divided by the minimum G0”. **Inverse root AveRangeG0Mult**: A
 transformation of the Range G0 Multi. This was calculated as “(1/(sq
 root(range G0mult)).” **AVE HNR slice**: The average Harmonic Noise ratio
 based on measurement from a spectral slice. **Ave Peak frequency slice**:
 The average dominant frequency when measuring a spectrum produced from the
 spectral slice. **Ave EQ25**: The average frequency (Hz) of the first
 energy quartile, 25th percentile. **B. Non-linear phenomena** **(NLP)**:
 each of the following NLP is expressed as an average proportion of calls
 with a certain trait for a specific individual. **PROP SH:** The average
 proportion of calls with subharmonics. **PROP BP:** The average proportion
 of calls with biphonation. **PROP CH**: The average proportion of calls
 with deterministic chaos. **PROP FreqJump**: The average proportion of
 calls with either ascending or descending frequency jumps. **PROP NLP:**
 The average proportion of calls with any of the above forms of non-linear
 phenomena. **C. Other columns:** **PC1 NLP**: Values for the first
 Principal Component based on the four forms of non-linear phenomena:
 subharmonics, biphonation, deterministic chaos, and frequency jumps. **PC2
 NLP**: Values for the second Principal Component based on the four forms
 of non-linear phenomena: subharmonics, biphonation, deterministic chaos,
 and frequency jumps.