Audience effects, but not environmental influences, explain variation in gorilla close distance vocalizations—A test of the acoustic adaptation hypothesis

Abstract

Close distance vocalizations are an integral part of primate vocal communication. They exhibit large acoustic variation which has been suggested to constitute flexible responses to the highly variable social setting of group living animals. However, a recent study suggested that acoustic variation in close distance calls of baboons may also arise from acoustic adaptations to environmental factors in order to counteract sound degradation. We tested whether the variation in calling rate and acoustic structure of gorilla close distance vocalizations may serve to counteract distorting effects of vegetation during sound propagation. Using focal animal sampling we recorded the vocal behavior of 15 adult individuals living in two groups: one group of western lowland gorillas Gorilla gorilla gorilla and one group of mountain gorillas Gorilla beringei beringei. We considered the distance between the caller and its nearest neighbor as the minimum transmission distance of calls; while vegetation density was quantified through measures of visibility. Our analysis revealed vocal plasticity in gorilla close calls in relation to changes in visibility and nearest neighbor distance. However, the observed changes in fundamental frequency and calling rate are unlikely to counteract degrading effects of vegetation, but rather seem to reflect reactions to variation in spatial and visual separation from other group members, similar to the audience effects demonstrated in a range of other species. We propose that vocal plasticity to counteract distorting environmental effects may not be prevalent across taxa and perhaps confined to species living in heterogeneous habitats with highly variable transmission conditions.

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