Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Ofer Tchernichovski, Sophie Eisenberg-Edidin, Erich D. Jarvis
Summary: An analysis of 160 tutor-pupil zebra finch pairs suggests that frequency dependent balanced imitation prevents the extinction of rare song elements and the overabundance of common ones, promoting song diversity within groups and species recognition across groups.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Biology
Richard K. Simpson, David R. Wilson, Allison F. Mistakidis, Daniel J. Mennill, Stephanie M. Doucet
Summary: The study shows that sympatry influences signal evolution in wood-warblers, but not always as predicted. The number of sympatric species can limit sympatry's influence on signal evolution.
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Rebecca N. Lewis, Masayo Soma, Selvino R. de Kort, R. Tucker Gilman
Summary: The study found strong evidence for cultural inheritance in song structure and note characteristics in a domestic population of Java sparrows, while vocal consistency of note subtypes was influenced by age and developmental environment, rather than social or genetic inheritance. High learning fidelity of song material allows novel variants to be preserved and accumulated over generations, impacting evolution and conservation.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Mason Youngblood, David C. Lahti
Summary: This study investigates how individual level cultural transmission mechanisms drive population level changes in birdsong using three years of house finch song recordings spanning four decades. The researchers developed an agent-based model and used approximate Bayesian computation and machine learning to estimate parameter values. The study found that syllable complexity plays a central role in the cultural evolution of house finch song.
Article
Ecology
Wesley H. Webb, Michelle M. Roper, Matthew D. M. Pawley, Yukio Fukuzawa, Aaron M. T. Harmer, Dianne H. Brunton
Summary: Songbirds learn their songs culturally by imitating tutors, leading to changes in vocal culture as new song units are introduced and others fall out of use. Male and female birds have distinct song cultures, with little overlap between sexes and sites, suggesting different cultural processes at play. Despite diverse syllable repertoires within sites, shared syllable types between sites decrease with distance, particularly for males.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2021)
Article
Psychology, Biological
Ashton L. Dickerson, Theresa M. Jones, Kaya B. Moore, Michelle L. Hall
Summary: Research on the willie wagtail bird species shows that both nocturnal and daytime song of male birds play roles in mate attraction and territory defence, while female birds primarily use their daytime song for territorial defence.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Germain Bayon, Martin Patriat, Yves Godderis, Anne Trinquier, Patrick De Deckker, Denise K. Kulhanek, Ann Holbourn, Yair Rosenthal
Summary: Arc-continent collision in Southeast Asia during the Neogene may have driven global cooling through chemical weathering of ophiolites resulting in atmospheric CO2 removal. Yet, little is known about the cause-and-effect relationships between erosion and the long-term evolution of tectonics and climate in this region. Here, we present an 8-million-year record of seawater chemistry and sediment provenance from the eastern Indian Ocean, near the outflow of Indonesian Throughflow waters.
Article
Ornithology
Jill A. Soha, Joseph M. Niederhauser, Rindy C. Anderson
Summary: Bachman's Sparrows have large song repertoires with high sharing of both song types and preferred song transitions, regardless of territorial distance.
WILSON JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Denise Jaeckel, Kim G. Mortega, Ulrich Brockmeyer, Gerlind U. C. Lehmann, Silke L. Voigt-Heucke
Summary: Open and citizen science approaches were used to study dialects in common nightingales, showing a high degree of stability over time and space. This suggests that the songs of common nightingales have similar characteristics in different regions and time periods.
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
S. E. Palmer, B. D. Wright, A. J. Doupe, M. H. Kao
Summary: The study investigates spiking patterns in a premotor area of the songbird brain during practice, showing that bursts of spikes and isolated spikes encode different temporal information in the song. The findings support the hypothesis that temporal coding during practice guides song modification at specific instances in time.
JOURNAL OF NEUROPHYSIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ornithology
Kendra DeMerchant, Sean P. Roach
Summary: This study assessed the vocal responses of Hermit Thrush males to conspecific song playback and found that they avoided overlapping and frequency matching. Furthermore, the males used abridged versions of their songs without introductory notes in response to the playback. These findings suggest that they make efforts to maximize signal efficiency and avoid acoustic interference during territorial defense.
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Ana Leita, Raoul A. Mulder, Michelle L. Hall
Summary: This study investigated the function of female and male song in the lovely fairy-wren and found that females and males have similar song structure, complexity, and natural song rates. Both sexes sing more during nonbreeding periods, and they respond similarly to simulated territorial intrusion. The results suggest that female and male songs serve similar functions in joint territorial defense and within-pair communication for coordination.
Article
Psychology, Biological
Evangeline M. Rose, Chelsea M. Haakenson, Katherine Stennette, Aliyah Patel, Shivika Gaind, Benjamin D. Shank, Farrah N. Madison, Gregory F. Ball
Summary: Male song in songbirds is critical for mate attraction, and female listeners respond to male song both behaviorally and physiologically. This study aimed to investigate the masculinization of female canary songs induced by exogenous testosterone (T) by examining the behavioral and physiological responses of female listeners. The results showed that female songs after 3 weeks of exogenous T were longer and more complex, and playback of these songs increased sexual response behaviors and ZENK expression in female listeners.
PHYSIOLOGY & BEHAVIOR
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Sara L. Chartier, Scott M. Ramsay, Ken A. Otter
Summary: A novel song variant with distinctive amplitude modulation in the first note has emerged and rapidly spread within a population of White-throated Sparrows in central British Columbia, Canada, gradually replacing the previously established song variant.
Article
Ornithology
Marcos Quiroz-Oliva, J. Roberto Sosa-Lopez
Summary: By studying the vocal behavior of Sclater's Wrens, it was found that males and females have sexually dimorphic songs, with females having only one song type while males possess multiple song types. Duet formation in this species involves both sexes combining their songs. Additionally, the study revealed that the number of songs shared between males decreases with increasing geographical distance, indicating a correlation between song learning and territorial proximity.
JOURNAL OF ORNITHOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Ecology
Lee Altenberg, Nicole Creanza, Laurel Fogarty, Lilach Hadany, Oren Kolodny, Kevin N. Laland, Laurent Lehmann, Sarah P. Otto, Noah A. Rosenberg, Jeremy Van Cleve, John Wakeley
THEORETICAL POPULATION BIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Ecology
Oana Carja, Nicole Creanza
THEORETICAL POPULATION BIOLOGY
(2019)
Article
Biology
Alexandra Surowiec, Kate T. Snyder, Nicole Creanza
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2019)
Article
Biology
Cristina M. Robinson, Kate T. Snyder, Nicole Creanza
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Abigail M. Searfoss, Wan-chun Liu, Nicole Creanza
Article
Ecology
Abigail M. Searfoss, James C. Pino, Nicole Creanza
METHODS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2020)
Article
Ecology
Emily J. Hudson, Nicole Creanza, Daizaburo Shizuka
FRONTIERS IN ECOLOGY AND EVOLUTION
(2020)
Article
Ornithology
Abigail M. Searfoss, Wan-chun Liu, Nicole Creanza
JOURNAL OF FIELD ORNITHOLOGY
(2020)
Article
Neurosciences
Parker Rundstrom, Nicole Creanza
Summary: Birdsong serves as a fascinating system to study behavioral and neural plasticity, with oscine songbirds displaying a rich behavioral plasticity in their song learning process. The development of song plasticity is diverse and dynamic, reflecting the dynamic changes in both behavioral and neural systems of songbirds.
CURRENT OPINION IN NEUROBIOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Ecology
Emily J. Hudson, Nicole Creanza
Summary: Oscine songbirds have been studied as an analogy for human languages and music, but this article proposes that their songs may change more like arrowheads than arias. The study suggests that small improvements to a bird's song can have a large impact on fitness, making songs more similar to human tools. The model used in the study shows that larger bird populations can foster song improvement over time, even when learners only choose a subset of individuals as tutors in their social networks.
Article
Genetics & Heredity
Elizabeth G. Atkinson, Shareefa Dalvie, Yakov Pichkar, Allan Kalungi, Lerato Majara, Anne Stevenson, Tamrat Abebe, Dickens Akena, Melkam Alemayehu, Fred K. Ashaba, Lukoye Atwoli, Mark Baker, Lori B. Chibnik, Nicole Creanza, Mark J. Daly, Abebaw Fekadu, Bizu Gelaye, Stella Gichuru, Wilfred E. Injera, Roxanne James, Symon M. Kariuki, Gabriel Kigen, Nastassja Koen, Karestan C. Koenen, Zan Koenig, Edith Kwobah, Joseph Kyebuzibwa, Henry Musinguzi, Rehema M. Mwema, Benjamin M. Neale, Carter P. Newman, Charles R. J. C. Newton, Linnet Ongeri, Sohini Ramachandran, Raj Ramesar, Welelta Shiferaw, Dan J. Stein, Rocky E. Stroud, Solomon Teferra, Mary T. Yohannes, Zukiswa Zingela, Alicia R. Martin, NeuroGAP Psychosis Study Team
Summary: African populations are underrepresented in medical genetics research, but studying their genetic and ethnolinguistic diversity can improve our understanding of genetic variation. Language classification can reflect underlying genetic variation, highlighting the role of culture in shaping genetic diversity. Additionally, language transmission and frequency changes were observed through generations in African populations.
AMERICAN JOURNAL OF HUMAN GENETICS
(2022)
Article
Biology
Yotam Ben-Oren, Oren Kolodny, Nicole Creanza
Summary: The specialization of knowledge within populations has allowed for the accumulation of cultural complexity in humans. However, this specialization also makes populations more vulnerable to losing domain-specific knowledge. Using a model of cultural evolution, this study shows that specialized populations are more sensitive to stochastic loss of knowledge and are greatly impacted by demographic and environmental changes. The study also highlights that specialization can be both beneficial and detrimental, as specialized populations may excel in accumulating cultural traits but struggle in expanding and establishing themselves in new areas due to increased cultural loss during population bottlenecks.
PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
(2023)