Song characteristics track bill morphology along a gradient of urbanization in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus)

Giraudeau, Mathieu; Nolan, Paul M.; Black, Caitlin; Earl, Stevan; Hasegawa, Masaru; McGraw, Kevin J.

doi:10.1186/s12983-014-0083-8

Cited by 55 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…Variation in bill morphology within and between species has been interpreted in light of differences in foraging behaviour and diet, and studies of the avian bill provide some of the most compelling evidence of the effects of food supply on a morphological trait (Bowman, ; Smith, ; Remsen, ; Benkman, ; Giuliano, Griggio & Pilastro, ; Herrel et al ., , ; Badyaev et al ., ). Behaviours such as vocalisation also contribute to the evolution of bill size (Fletcher, ; Hausberger, Black & Richard, ; Brittan‐Powell et al ., ; Podos & Nowicki, ; Podos, Southall & Rossi‐Santos, ; Giraudeau et al ., ), implicating reproductive trade‐offs in bill size. Indeed, extreme bill sizes, such as the large‐billed toucans, were interpreted by Darwin () to result from sexual selection, suggesting that bill size plays a role in sex‐specific traits, such as mate selection or vocalisation (Greenberg & Olsen, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of the avian bill as a thermoregulatory organ

2016

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The avian bill is a textbook example of how evolution shapes morphology in response to changing environments. Bills of seed-specialist finches in particular have been the focus of intense study demonstrating how climatic fluctuations acting on food availability drive bill size and shape. The avian bill also plays an important but under-appreciated role in body temperature regulation, and therefore in energetics. Birds are endothermic and rely on numerous mechanisms for balancing internal heat production with biophysical constraints of the environment. The bill is highly vascularised and heat exchange with the environment can vary substantially, ranging from around 2% to as high as 400% of basal heat production in certain species. This heat exchange may impact how birds respond to heat stress, substitute for evaporative water loss at elevated temperatures or environments of altered water availability, or be an energetic liability at low environmental temperatures. As a result, in numerous taxa, there is evidence for a positive association between bill size and environmental temperatures, both within and among species. Therefore, bill size is both developmentally flexible and evolutionarily adaptive in response to temperature. Understanding the evolution of variation in bill size however, requires explanations of all potential mechanisms. The purpose of this review, therefore, is to promote a greater understanding of the role of temperature on shaping bill size over spatial gradients as well as developmental, seasonal, and evolutionary timescales.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The evolution of the avian bill as a thermoregulatory organ

2016

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“…the genetic song template [63, 69–71]), or even anatomical or physiological traits that affect song production (e.g. body size [39, 72], or bill morphology [41]). Morphologically-mediated population differences in sound frequency are perhaps less likely because, although urban juncos are slightly smaller than mountain juncos, there is no detectable relationship between body size and song frequency in either of our field populations [73].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban birdsongs: higher minimum song frequency of an urban colonist persists in a common garden experiment

Reichard

Atwell

Pandit

et al. 2019

Preprint

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21Environmental changes caused by urbanization and noise pollution can have profound 22 effects on acoustic communication. Many organisms use higher sound frequencies in 23 urban environments with low-frequency noise, but the developmental and evolutionary 24 mechanisms underlying these shifts are less clear. We used a common garden 25 experiment to ask whether changes in minimum song frequency observed 30 years 26 after a songbird colonized an urban environment are a consequence of behavioral 27 flexibility or canalized changes that occur early in development. We captured male 28 juvenile dark-eyed juncos (Junco hyemalis thurberi) from two recently diverged 29 populations (urban and mountain) soon after they reached independence (aged 25-40 30 days), raised them in identical indoor aviaries, and studied their songs at an age of 31 three years. We found that the large population difference in minimum frequency 32 observed in the field persisted undiminished in the common garden despite the absence 33 of noise. We also found some song sharing between the common garden and natal field 34 populations, indicating that early song memorization before capture could contribute to 35 the persistent song differences in adulthood. These results are the first to show that 36 frequency shifts in urban birdsong are maintained in the absence of noise by genetic 37 evolution and/or early life experiences. 38 39 40 41 42 Introduction 43Anthropogenic noise can alter the biology of diverse animal taxa at organismal, 44 population, and even community scales [1][2][3][4][5][6][7]. In particular, the low frequency 45 background noise often associated with urbanization can interfere with animal 46 communication and has been associated with changes in acoustic signals that improve 47 sound transmission [8, 9]. One such change that is widely observed in urban 48 environments is increased minimum frequency of acoustic signals, which may be an 49 adaptation to overcome the masking effects of low-frequency noise [10][11][12][13][14][15][16]. Our 50 understanding of the developmental and evolutionary mechanisms that may underlie 51 such changes in acoustic signaling remains limited [9,[17][18][19][20][21][22]. Species such as oscine 52 songbirds that learn their songs are of particular interest due to the potential for cultural 53 evolution and other forms of behavioral plasticity, which can facilitate rapid change in 54 response to anthropogenic noise [23][24][25]. 55Several non-mutually exclusive hypotheses have been proposed to explain 56 changes in song frequency in urban environments [9, 26], including short-term plasticity, 57 ontogenetic effects (early experience), and evolutionary change across generations. 58The plasticity hypothesis argues that frequency shifts are the result of behavioral 59 flexibility in response to the presence or absence of a noise stimulus. Some studies in 60 oscine songbirds have found evidence supporting plasticity either through rapid 61 increases in minimum song frequency [18, 22, 27, 28] or switching to...

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“…Using this method, we were able to estimate the volume of a greater percentage of prey items (57.4% rather than 32.4%). We used the average length and height of the bills of Great Tits in European populations (12 and 4.5 mm, respectively; Zaja z c 1999, BWPi 2006) to create the size categories, but investigators should measure the bills of birds in their own study populations because bill sizes may differ among countries (Bosse et al 2017), populations (Ulfstrand et al 1981), and habitats (Giraudeau et al 2014).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Obtaining accurate measurements of the size and volume of insects fed to nestlings from video recordings

et al. 2018

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Video recordings are commonly used to study the types, amount, and size of food items provided to nestling birds. However, the accuracy and repeatability of estimates of the size of food items from video recordings has not been examined. We assessed three aspects of the reliability of measuring prey size from video recordings of Great Tits (Parus major) provisioning nestlings. To test the accuracy of measurements of prey size (length and width) used to determine prey volume, we molded artificial plasticine caterpillars and compared their size and volume as determined using measurements of length and width on screenshots of video recordings (using the vertical diameter of nest‐box entrance holes as a size reference) to their actual size and volume. We also examined within‐ and among‐observer repeatability of measurements of the size and volume of actual prey items delivered to nestlings by adult Great Tits. We found that observers were able to accurately measure prey size and determine volume, with high agreement between the actual size and volume of plasticine caterpillars and the size and volume as determined from measurements made on screenshots from video recordings (rICC = 0.99). In addition, within‐ and among‐observer repeatability were also high (rICC = 0.98 and 0.93, respectively). Overall, our results suggest that the size of prey items delivered to nestlings by adults in video recordings can be accurately measured and those measurements, in turn, can be used to accurately determine the volume of those insect prey.

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Song characteristics track bill morphology along a gradient of urbanization in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus)

Cited by 55 publications

References 55 publications

The evolution of the avian bill as a thermoregulatory organ

The evolution of the avian bill as a thermoregulatory organ

Urban birdsongs: higher minimum song frequency of an urban colonist persists in a common garden experiment

Obtaining accurate measurements of the size and volume of insects fed to nestlings from video recordings

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