Vocal matching: the what, the why and the how

King, Stephanie L.; McGregor, Peter K.

doi:10.1098/rsbl.2016.0666

Cited by 50 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 62 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Evidence that song is learned mainly from territorial neighbors is two-fold: the extent of repertoire sharing with a focal male declines with increasing distance from the male ( Figure 3A ), as does the similarity of details of songs of the same song type ( Figure 3B ; Falls et al, 1982 ), and the details of song types shared between sons and fathers are less similar than song types shared between sons and males in the sons’ year of breeding ( McGregor and Krebs, 1982 ). The advantage of sharing song types with neighbors is likely related to song type matching (e.g., Falls et al, 1982 ; King and McGregor, 2016 ) in aggressive singing interactions between males. Field studies of individually marked males have shown that song learning can continue throughout life [for both production ( McGregor and Krebs, 1989 ) and discrimination ( McGregor and Avery, 1986 ) learning], with the stimulus for learning being interactions with male neighbors.…”

Section: Song Learning In Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Transmission, Evolution, and Revolution in Vocal Displays: Insights From Bird and Whale Song

Garland

McGregor

2020

Front. Psychol.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Culture, defined as shared behavior or information within a community acquired through some form of social learning from conspecifics, is now suggested to act as a second inheritance system. Cultural processes are important in a wide variety of vertebrate species. Birdsong provides a classic example of cultural processes: cultural transmission, where changes in a shared song are learned from surrounding conspecifics, and cultural evolution, where the patterns of songs change through time. This form of cultural transmission of information has features that are different in speed and form from genetic transmission. More recently, culture, vocal traditions, and an extreme form of song evolution have been documented in cetaceans. Humpback whale song “revolutions,” where the single population-wide shared song type is rapidly replaced by a new, novel song type introduced from a neighboring population, represents an extraordinary example of ocean basin-wide cultural transmission rivaled in its geographic extent only by humans. In this review, we examine the cultural evolutions and revolutions present in some birdsong and whale song, respectively. By taking a comparative approach to these cultural processes, we review the existing evidence to understand the similarities and differences for their patterns of expression and the underlying drivers, including anthropogenic influences, which may shape them. Finally, we encourage future studies to explore the role of innovation vs. production errors in song evolution, the fitness information present in song, and how human-induced changes in population sizes, trajectories, and migratory connections facilitating cultural transmission may be driving song revolutions.

show abstract

Section: Song Learning In Birdsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cultural Transmission, Evolution, and Revolution in Vocal Displays: Insights From Bird and Whale Song

Garland

McGregor

2020

Front. Psychol.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…By comparison, female Bay Wrens do not appear to use their songs to attract mates, but instead use their songs to defend territories against conspecific females (Levin, 1996a(Levin, , 1996b. During territorial displays, male birds often match songs with neighbors (reviewed in King & MacGregor, 2016), and males often share a high proportion of songs or song types with their neighbors (Beecher, Campbell, Burt, Hill, & Nordby, 2000;Nelson, 2000;Trillo & Vehrencamp, 2005). Sharing songs with territorial neighbors may bestow several advantages, including increased reproductive success, and increased territory tenure (Beecher & Brenowitz, 2005;Beecher et al, 2000;Payne & Payne, 1997).…”

Section: Spatial Structure Of Songsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Dispersal influences genetic and acoustic spatial structure for both males and females in a tropical songbird

Graham

Heath

Mennill

2017

Ecology and Evolution

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Animals exhibit diverse dispersal strategies, including sex‐biased dispersal, a phenomenon common in vertebrates. Dispersal influences the genetic structure of populations as well as geographic variation in phenotypic traits. Patterns of spatial genetic structure and geographic variation may vary between the sexes whenever males and females exhibit different dispersal behaviors. Here, we examine dispersal, spatial genetic structure, and spatial acoustic structure in Rufous‐and‐white Wrens, a year‐round resident tropical bird. Both sexes sing in this species, allowing us to compare acoustic variation between males and females and examine the relationship between dispersal and song sharing for both sexes. Using a long‐term dataset collected over an 11‐year period, we used banding data and molecular genetic analyses to quantify natal and breeding dispersal distance in Rufous‐and‐white Wrens. We quantified song sharing and examined whether sharing varied with dispersal distance, for both males and females. Observational data and molecular genetic analyses indicate that dispersal is female‐biased. Females dispersed farther from natal territories than males, and more often between breeding territories than males. Furthermore, females showed no significant spatial genetic structure, consistent with expectations, whereas males showed significant spatial genetic structure. Overall, natal dispersal appears to have more influence than breeding dispersal on spatial genetic structure and spatial acoustic structure, given that the majority of breeding dispersal events resulted in individuals moving only short distances. Song sharing between pairs of same‐sex animals decreases with the distance between their territories for both males and females, although males exhibited significantly greater song sharing than females. Lastly, we measured the relationship between natal dispersal distance and song sharing. We found that sons shared fewer songs with their fathers the farther they dispersed from their natal territories, but that song sharing between daughters and mothers was not significantly correlated with natal dispersal distance. Our results reveal cultural differences between the sexes, suggesting a relationship between culture and sex‐biased dispersal.

show abstract

“…Birds provide a model system for studying aggressive signals because they produce diverse acoustic signals, including elaborate and variable signals that are commonplace during territorial contests (Todt & Naguib, ). Aggressive acoustic signalling behaviours in birds include song matching (King & McGregor, ), song overlapping (Helfer & Osiejuk, ), variation in song rate (Baker, Wilson, & Mennill, ), variation in trill rate and frequency bandwidth (DuBois, Nowicki, & Searcy, ), production of low‐amplitude soft songs (Searcy et al, ) and production of nonsong calls (Ballentine, Searcy, & Nowicki, ). The most well‐studied system of aggressive contest escalation to date comes from Song Sparrows, Melospiza melodia (Akçay et al, ; Searcy & Beecher, ; Searcy et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Quiet violence: Savannah Sparrows respond to playback‐simulated rivals using low‐amplitude songs as aggressive signals

et al. 2018

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

When animals compete over resources such as breeding territories, they often use signals to communicate their aggressive intentions. By studying which signals are associated with aggressive interactions, we gain a deeper appreciation of animal behaviour. We studied aggressive signalling in male Savannah Sparrows, Passerculus sandwichensis, focusing on signals that precede physical attack against territorial intruders. We simulated intruders using song playback and taxidermic models, and we determined which behaviours were associated with physical attack. Previous studies that have used this approach suggest that many species produce songs of dramatically lower amplitude, or “soft songs,” as signals of aggressive intention. Savannah Sparrows, however, are not known to produce soft songs, and therefore, they provided an interesting system for testing signals that predict attack. Of 93 playback subjects, 23 males attacked the simulated intruder and 70 did not. To our surprise, Savannah Sparrows produced soft songs, and the number of soft songs was a significant predictor of attack on the simulated intruder. Birds also showed a nonsignificant tendency to produce more “chip” calls prior to attack on the simulated intruder, whereas three other measured behaviours (aggressive calls, wing waving and passes over the model) did not predict attack. Our study contributes to the growing body of research on aggressive territorial signals and reveals that soft song is an even more widespread signal of aggression in songbirds than previously recognized.

show abstract

Vocal matching: the what, the why and the how

Cited by 50 publications

References 62 publications

Cultural Transmission, Evolution, and Revolution in Vocal Displays: Insights From Bird and Whale Song

Cultural Transmission, Evolution, and Revolution in Vocal Displays: Insights From Bird and Whale Song

Dispersal influences genetic and acoustic spatial structure for both males and females in a tropical songbird

Quiet violence: Savannah Sparrows respond to playback‐simulated rivals using low‐amplitude songs as aggressive signals

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About