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Black swan Cygnus atratus

by Zoology Melbourne on April 29, 2013

The behavioural ecology of black swans has been a long-term interest for the Mulder lab.
Black swans are large, socially monogamous birds resident in wetlands across most of
Australia. In 2006, we began tagging and monitoring the population at Albert Park,
Melbourne. Individuals are marked with collars with unique identification codes allowing
us to track individuals over time. This long-term monitoring program utilises a group of
citizen scientists who regularly submit sightings of individual birds at various locations
around Victoria, through a website (myswan.org.au) and a smartphone application
(available from iTunes). Over time, many projects have been carried out on this
population including research into mating systems, communication, and response to
disturbance.

When we studied the breeding ecology of black swans, we discovered unexpectedly high
levels of extra-pair paternity (EPP). EPP in swans does not appear to be related to
ecological factors or genetic factors, nor does it appear to lead to greater variance in
reproductive success of males. Another study was based around examining the function
of the curled feathers that both sexes grown on their wings and display prominently in a
range of social interactions. We found that individuals pair assortively with respect to
curled feathers, suggesting the feathers may be involved in mutual sexual selection.
Following on from this study, we found that brood sex ratio was not related to the degree
of ornamentation (curly feathers) in either parent or to EPP. This suggests that parental
attractiveness may be largely non-heritable.

In a study relating to other forms of communication, we examined the function of triumph

ceremonies. Paired black swans regularly perform triumph ceremonies, most of which
were initiated by the male. We found that the presence of dependent cygnets did not affect
the frequency of ceremonies; however feeding experiments showed ceremonies increased
when many swans were in close proximity. Pairs also performed triumph ceremonies in
response to the playback of a triumph ceremony by another pair, but not in response to
playback of an advertisement call by an unpaired black swan.

Our most recent study involved examining the response of black swans to the Australian
Formula One Grand Prix. We measured population size, behaviour and stress hormone
levels before, during and after this intense noise event. While we didn’t find any change
in population size or behaviour, we did find evidence of a modest physiological response.
Our results suggest that even intensely noisy and apparently disruptive events may have
relatively low measurable short-term impact on population numbers, behaviour or
physiology in urban populations with apparently high tolerance to anthropogenic
disturbance. Nevertheless, the potential long-term impact of such disturbance on
reproductive success, individual fitness and population health need to be carefully
considered.

Information about our current black swan projects is available on the Research page.

Researcher profile:

Much of this research into the behavioural ecology of black swans was
conducted by Dr. Ken Kraaijeveld as part of his PhD entitled “Mutual ornamentation and
the behavioural ecology of black swans”. Ken is now a lecturer in Bioinformatics at the
University of Applied Sciences, Leiden, Netherlands.

More information about this research can be found in these publications:

Payne, CJ, Jessop, TJ, Guay, P-J, Johnstone, M, Feore, M & Mulder, RA (2012).
Population, behavioural and physiological responses of an urban population of black
swans to an intense noise event. PLoS ONE 7: e45014. Full text

Mulder, RA, Guay, P-J, Wilson, M & Coulson, G (2010). Citizen science: recruiting
residents for studies of tagged urban wildlife. Wildlife Research 37: 440-446. Full text

Patel, R, Mulder, RA & Cardoso, G (2010). What makes vocalization frequency an

unreliable signal of body size in birds? A study on black swans. Ethology 116: 554-563.
Full text

Guay, P-J & Mulder, RA (2009). Do neck collars affect the behaviour and condition of
Black Swans (Cygnus atratus)? Emu 109: 248-251. Full text

Kraaijeveld, K, Ming, M, Komdeur, J & Mulder, RA (2007). Offspring sex ratios in

relation to mutual ornamentation and extra-pair paternity in the black swan Cygnus
atratus. Ibis 149: 79-85. Full text
Kraaijeveld, K, Carew, PJ, Billing, TM, Adcock, GJ & Mulder, RA (2004). Extra-pair
paternity does not result in differential sexual selection in the mutually ornamented
black swan (Cygnus atratus). Molecular Ecology 13: 1625-1633. Full text

Kraaijeveld, K, Gregurke, J, Hall, C, Komdeur, J & Mulder, RA (2004). Mutual

ornamentation, sexual selection and social dominance in the Black Swan. Behavioral
Ecology 15: 380-389. Full text

Carew, PJ, Adcock, GJ & Mulder RA (2003). Microsatellite loci for paternity
assessment in the black swan (Cygnus atratus: Aves). Molecular Ecology Notes 3:1-3.
Full text

Kraaijeveld, K & Mulder, RA (2003). Musk Duck brood parasitism on Black Swans.
Wildfowl 53: 127-135.

Kraaijeveld, K & Mulder, RA (2002). The function of triumph ceremonies in the black
swan. Behaviour 139: 45-54. Full text