= Ruth Ashcroft
{c}
<Ruth Ashcroft> coauthored experimental research with <John Krebs> and <Mike Webber> on the role of <birdsong> in <great tit> <territory> defence. Their 1978 paper tested whether variation in a male's song repertoire improves its effectiveness as a territorial display.<Song repertoires and territory defence in the great tit by John Krebs and others>[Byline and Abstract; three repertoire experiments]{ref}
The methodological question is how to distinguish a song's possible functions. Sound associated with a <territory> could influence competitors, prospective mates, or both. A test measuring settlement by competitors addresses a different outcome from a test measuring mate attraction. The study's experimental framing therefore links an observable acoustic pattern to a specified behavioural response, rather than treating every elaborate signal as evidence for a single function.
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