Sequence structure mining, white browed sparrow weaver

<p class="BodyA">This dataset contains data for sequence analysis described in the paper: "Lemazina et al., (2021) The multifaceted vocal duets of White-browed sparrow weavers are based on complex duetting rules. Journal of Avian Biology, doi: 10.1111/jav.02703". </p> <p class="BodyA"><span>In our study, we recorded duet songs produced by six wild <i>P. mahali</i> pairs in South Africa. Our study further reveals the existence of answering rules in <i>P. mahali, </i>adhered to by both sexes. <a name="_Hlk59629153">Even though answering rules can be shared between pairs of different colonies, pair-specificity in ordering of syllable types within the most commonly used duet trains exists.</a> Most importantly, we found that a single answering rule was never used twice in one <i>P. mahali</i> duet song, but answering rules switched constantly, which contrasts the song structure in this species with the song structure of most other duetting bird species studied so far. </span></p> <p class="BodyA"><span>For sequence analysis, we used KOE (https://koe.io.ac.nz). Koe discoveres commonly-occurring transitions between syllables in a database using the cSPADE (<b>c</b>onstrained <b>S</b>equential <b>Pa</b>ttern <b>D</b>iscovery using <b>E</b>quivalence classes) algorithm (Zaki 2001). The credibility of sequence rules is asserted via the following factors: S<i>upport</i> (proportion of songs in the database that contain a certain sequence at least once), C<i>onfidence</i> (strength of association; the proportion of songs containing the syllable A that also contain the sequence A⇒B), and <i>Lift</i> (measure of the strength of the association relative to chance; ratio of the proportion of songs in which the transition A⇒B occurred versus the proportion of songs expected to contain the transition A⇒B by chance). <em>Chain length</em> referees to the number of items in the current squence, while <em>Count</em> refers to the occurance number of each particular sequence.</span></p> <p class="BodyA"><span>Our study further reveals the existence of answering rules in <i>P. mahali, </i>adhered to by both sexes. <a name="_Hlk59629153">Even though answering rules can be shared between pairs of different colonies, pair-specificity in ordering of syllable types within the most commonly used duet trains exists.</a> Most importantly, we found that a single answering rule was never used twice in one <i>P. mahali</i> duet song, but answering rules switched constantly, which contrasts the song structure in this species with the song structure of most other duetting bird species studied so far.</span></p>