John Krebs investigated animal behaviour through experiments connecting signals with ecological outcomes. With Ruth Ashcroft and Mike Webber, he examined birdsong and territory maintenance in great tits. Their 1978 paper describes removing resident pairs and occupying the vacated areas with loudspeakers; new pairs settled faster in controls than in song-occupied areas.[ref]
Song repertoires and territory defence in the great tit by John Krebs and others. Abstract; resident removal, playback and settlement comparison
The experiment makes an invisible social boundary testable: physical space remains after the owners leave, while an acoustic cue can still influence newcomers. It supports a signalling role in territorial exclusion without requiring an observer to witness a fight at every boundary. The same paper tested the effectiveness of varied song repertoires, illustrating the use of controlled signal manipulation to study animal communication.
Institutional profile: www.biology.ox.ac.uk/people/john-krebs .
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