Other species increased their own information production at stationary predator stimuli (inside and outside of MSFs) during the breeding season, perhaps due to their increased investment in offspring during this time. In the breeding season, they tended to call less to the moving stimulus, and substantially fewer individuals responded to the in-flock stationary stimulus. Fulvettas were the dominant producer of alarm-related information both to the moving and stationary stimuli in MSFs and were also among the most active mobbers to stimuli presented outside of MSFs.
![bird flocks bird flocks](https://data.1freewallpapers.com/download/flock-of-birds.jpg)
MSFs were much less frequent in the breeding season with fewer individuals of the nuclear species, David's Fulvetta ( Alcippe davidi), participating, though the diversity of other species remained stable.
![bird flocks bird flocks](https://static.photocdn.pt/images/articles/2016-2/iStock_000019103197_Medium.jpg)
We also conducted three experiments to quantify information produced by different species in response to typical predator encounters, including a moving predator stimulus presented inside of MSFs, and a stationary predator model presented both inside and outside of MSFs. We obtained baseline information on MSF encounter rate and species composition along established sampling routes over 9 months near the Sino-Vietnamese border. We hypothesized that in a seasonal tropical forest, the amount of information produced by birds about predation would be dynamic and particularly would decrease inside MSFs when the nuclear species leave MSFs to breed. Mixed-species flocks (MSFs) of birds are ubiquitous in forest ecosystems and structured, in part, around interspecific information transfer, with “nuclear” species providing information that other species eavesdrop on.
![bird flocks bird flocks](https://www.mensjournal.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/bird-flocks-collide.jpg)
Animals acquire information produced by other species to reduce uncertainty and avoid predators.