Cultural evolution of male song types in Darwin's medium ground finches, Geospiza fortis

1990 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. Lisle Gibbs
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Geospiza Fortis ◽  
Song Types

scholarly journals Persistence of song types in Darwin's finches, Geospiza fortis , over four decades

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (5) ◽  
pp. 589-592 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eben Goodale ◽  
Jeffrey Podos
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Sampling Period ◽  
Time Frame ◽  
Bird Songs ◽  
Song Structure ◽  
Darwin's Finches ◽  
Darwin’S Finches ◽  
The Face ◽  
Geospiza Fortis ◽  
Song Types

Learned bird songs evolve via cultural evolution, with song patterns transmitted across generations by imitative learning. In Darwin's finches of the Galápagos Islands, males learn songs from their fathers, and song types can be maintained across multiple generations. However, little is known about the time frame over which specific song types are preserved, in the face of copy errors and corresponding modifications to song structure. Here we investigate cultural evolution in songs of male Geospiza fortis , at Academy Bay, Santa Cruz Island, comparing songs recorded in 1961 by R. Bowman (20 individuals) to those recorded in 1999 by J. Podos (16 individuals). For each individual, we characterized four timing and six frequency parameters, and assessed inter-individual variation in song structure using multivariate analysis. Several 1961 song types persisted into 1999, some with remarkable fidelity. Variation among song types was extensive during both years, and we detected no changes in 10 vocal parameters across the sampling period. These results illustrate temporal continuity in a culturally acquired trait, and raise questions about mechanisms that promote stability in song structure.

scholarly journals The Duet Code of the Female Black-Bellied Wren

The Condor ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-335 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Logue
Keyword(s):  
Animal Communication ◽  
Special Kind ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Female Response ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Vocal Responses ◽  
Vocal Signals ◽  
Behavioral Mechanisms ◽  
Song Types

Abstract In many duet-singing songbirds, paired birds combine their song types nonrandomly to form duet songs. Several different behavioral mechanisms could generate nonrandom song type associations in duets. I tested female Black-bellied Wrens (Thryothorus fasciatoventris) for one such mechanism: adherence to a set of rules linking female response songs to male stimulus songs. I call this set of rules a “duet code.” Duets of free-living Black-bellied Wrens were recorded in 2001 and 2002. In 2003 I returned to the same territories and played the male song types from the recorded duets. Females answered male song stimuli as if duetting with the playback speaker. Although the known repertoires of females averaged 8.4 song types, each female sang only a single song type in response to each male song type. Random answering could not account for this pattern, supporting the hypothesis that females abide by duet codes. Females that were still paired with their mates from 2001–2002 answered 100% of their mate's songs with the same song types they had used previously, demonstrating that codes are stable over time. In contrast, females that were new to a territory answered an average of only 18% of their mate's song types with the same song type as the previous female, indicating that duet codes are individually distinctive. Duet participation by female Black-bellied Wrens represents a special kind of animal communication, in which discrete vocal signals consistently elicit discrete vocal responses according to an individually distinctive set of rules.

Testing the function of song-matching in birds: responses of eastern male song sparrows Melospiza melodia to partial song-matching

Behaviour ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 145 (3) ◽  
pp. 347-363 ◽  
Author(s):  
William Searcy ◽  
Rindy Anderson ◽  
Stephen Nowicki
Keyword(s):  
Average Distance ◽  
Aggressive Response ◽  
Melospiza Melodia ◽  
Song Sparrow ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Eastern Population ◽  
Partial Matching ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Song Types

AbstractSong-matching has been hypothesized to be a signal of aggressive intentions whereby matching an opponent signals that the singer is likely to attack. Theory predicts that an aggressive signal should impose a cost that enforces the signal's reliability. A receiver-dependent cost imposed by the matched bird's aggressive retaliation has been proposed for song-matching. We tested for such a cost for partial song-matching in an eastern population of song sparrows where males lack the shared song types necessary for song type matching, but can perform partial song-matching using shared song segments. We tested aggressive response, as measured by average distance to a playback speaker, to partial-matching songs and non-matching songs. We predicted a stronger aggressive response to partial-matching songs, as has been shown for whole song-matching in western song sparrow populations. The birds in our study responded no differently to partial-matching and non-matching songs. Neither the distance to the playback speaker nor singing responses differed between playback treatments. Our results do not support a receiver-dependent cost to partial song-matching, as would be expected if partial-matching is a direct threat. Instead, we suggest that partial song-matching functions as a signal of attention.

Female and male song exhibit both parallel and divergent patterns of cultural evolution: A long-term study of song structure and diversity in tropical wrens

The Auk ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan A Graham ◽  
Daniel D Heath ◽  
Daniel J Mennill
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
Cultural Change ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Term Study ◽  
Change Over Time ◽  
Long Term Study ◽  
Males And Females ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Over Time

Abstract Animal culture changes over time through processes that include drift, immigration, selection, and innovation. Cultural change has been particularly well-studied for animal vocalizations, especially for the vocalizations of male animals in the temperate zone. Here we examine the cultural change in the vocalizations of tropical Rufous-and-white Wrens (Thryophilus rufalbus), quantifying temporal variation in song structure, song type diversity, and population-level distribution of song types in both males and females. We use data from 10 microsatellite loci to quantify patterns of immigration and neutral genetic differentiation over time, to investigate whether cultural diversity changes with rates of immigration. Based on 11 yr of data, we show that the spectro-temporal features of several widely-used persistent song types maintain a relatively high level of consistency for both males and females, whereas the distribution and frequency of particular song types change over time for both sexes. Males and females exhibit comparable levels of cultural diversity (i.e. the diversity of song types across the population), although females exhibit greater rates of cultural change over time. We found that female changes in cultural diversity increased when immigration is high, whereas male cultural diversity did not change with immigration. Our study is the first long-term study to explore cultural evolution for both male and female birds and suggests that cultural patterns exhibit notable differences between the sexes.

scholarly journals Song sharing in the pied bush chat (Saxicola caprata)

2020 ◽  
Vol 144 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vinaya Kumar Sethi ◽  
Dinesh Bhatt ◽  
Amit Kumar
Keyword(s):  
Social Relationships ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Passerine Bird ◽  
Significant Decline ◽  
Tropical Species ◽  
Song Repertoire ◽  
Song Sharing ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Song Types

In most oscine passerine bird species, male song is composed of different song types of which some are shared with other males. Our aim for this study was to investigate whether song sharing occurs in the pied bush chat (a tropical species with multiple song types), and if so, whether neighbouring males share significantly more song types than non-neighbouring males and whether song sharing declines with increasing distance between males. A standard song sharing index was used to compare all song types of each male with all song types of all other males. Males had a mean repertoire of 22.8±4.4 song types ranging from 17 to 30 song types. Results revealed that neighbouring males shared significantly more song types than did non-neighbouring males. Nevertheless, no two males shared all song types in their repertoires. Furthermore, we observed a significant decline in the proportion of song repertoire shared with increasing distance between males. Results confirm the presence of song sharing in the pied bush chat, which may help neighbouring males to mediate social relationships.

Four decades of cultural evolution in House Finch songs

The Auk ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 136 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chenghui Ju ◽  
Frances C Geller ◽  
Paul C Mundinger ◽  
David C Lahti
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Population Level ◽  
Bird Song ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
House Finch ◽  
Frequency Bandwidth ◽  
Recent Sample ◽  
Study Population ◽  
Song Types

ABSTRACT Bird song is the primary animal model system for cultural evolution. Longitudinal studies of bird song across many generations can provide insights into patterns and mechanisms of change in socially transmitted traits. In this study, we conducted a comparative analysis of songs of the House Finch (Haemorhous mexicanus) across an interval of 37 years (in 1975 and in 2012). Recordings from both years were collected in western Long Island, New York, which is thought to be the initial site of introduction of the House Finch around 1940 from the West Coast. Song types experienced a complete turnover during this period, although half of the syllable types were represented in both samples. Song length, frequency bandwidth and several other spectrographic features were the same in both years, and no structural features predicted recurrence of individual syllables. Consistent with the fact that our study population expanded substantially following a cultural founder effect, song and syllable sharing and similarity between individuals were lower in 2012 than in 1975, reflecting an increase in song diversity at the population level. However, in the more recent sample individual songs had fewer syllables, and were sung with less sequence stereotypy across renditions than in the earlier sample. Syllable prevalence in 2012 was associated both with complexity (as gauged by frequency excursion) and increased minimum frequency. Thus, over nearly 4 decades, Eastern House Finch songs remained structurally similar at the whole-song level, diversified between individuals, but became simpler and less consistent within an individual.

Response of territorial male song sparrows to song types and variations

1988 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 125-130 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip K. Stoddard ◽  
Michael D. Beecher ◽  
Mary S. Willis
Keyword(s):  
Territorial Male ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Song Sparrows ◽  
Song Types

Songs and Sexual Responses of Female White-Crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia Leucophrys) From a Mixed-Dialect Population

Behaviour ◽  
1996 ◽  
Vol 133 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 173-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Ross Lein ◽  
Glen Chilton
Keyword(s):  
Mate Choice ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Genetic Isolation ◽  
Free Living ◽  
Zonotrichia Leucophrys ◽  
Dialectal Variation ◽  
Male Song ◽  
Song Dialect ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Song Playback

AbstractSome researchers have suggested that female songbirds mate with males singing local song types in preference to males singing dialects from more distant populations. Such behaviour might promote genetic isolation among dialect populations. We studied captive female white-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) from a population in which two song types were equally common, as a model for behaviour at dialect boundaries. Subjects were captured as adults, and the song type of the mate of each was known. Treated with estradiol, females gave sexual displays in response to playback of conspecific male song. As a group, they solicited no more strongly to either local song type, suggesting that males singing either local song type should be able to attract mates. Individuals solicited no more strongly to their mate's song type than to the other local song type. This suggests that strength of response of captive females to song playback may not accurately reflect the behaviour of free-living individuals. Subjects were also treated with testosterone to induce singing. Individuals sang their mates' song type more often than expected by chance. Given that female white-crowned sparrows in this population do not consistently choose mates of one song type, we develop the argument that females learn, for performance, the song type of their first mate. However, the type of song learned for performance appears unlikely to restrict their subsequent mate choice decisions. Our results suggest that female white-crowned sparrows do not base their choice of mates on dialectal variation in male song, and that it is unlikely that mate choice decisions based on song dialect promote the genetic isolation of dialect populations.

Cultural Evolution in Chaffinch Song

Behaviour ◽  
1979 ◽  
Vol 71 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 146-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.J.B. Slater ◽  
S.A. Ince
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Evolution ◽  
Song Learning ◽  
Song Type ◽  
Single Individual ◽  
Orkney Islands ◽  
Song Types ◽  
Made In

AbstractA detailed study has been made of the song types of male chaffinches in the Orkney Islands. Only about 50 pairs of chaffinches nest there and these are mainly concentrated in three woods, with isolated pairs in a number of other places. Recordings of 41 individuals showed that songs fell clearly into distinct types, 16 of which were discovered. Some song types were peculiar to a single individual, while others occurred in the repertoires of many birds. Most were markedly more common in one wood than in others. The most noticeable variation within a song type was in the number of repetitions of syllables in a phrase. This varied significantly between individuals, though not between different woods; variation within an individual was also great. Comparisons between song types suggested ways in which these had diverged during the course of cultural evolution. The main changes seem to have occurred by minor modification of syllables, by changes in the number of repetitions of syllables, by the addition or omission of sections and by the recombination of sections from different song types. Evidence from the variability and distribution of song types argues against song learning in this species having evolved because it enables individuals to transmit information about their identity or about the locality or kinship group to which they belong. Instead it is suggested that song learning arose as a means of achieving a complex vocal output and that the distribution of song types arises partly because mistakes are sometimes made in copying and partly because some individuals disperse more widely than others after song learning.

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