The learning advantage: Bird species that learn their song show a tighter adjustment of song to noisy environments than those that do not learn


Por: Ríos-Chelén A.A., Salaberria C., Barbosa I., Garcia, CM, Gil D.

Publicada: 1 nov 2012
Categoría: Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics

Resumen:
Song learning has evolved within several avian groups. Although its evolutionary advantage is not clear, it has been proposed that song learning may be advantageous in allowing birds to adapt their songs to the local acoustic environment. To test this hypothesis, we analysed patterns of song adjustment to noisy environments and explored their possible link to song learning. Bird vocalizations can be masked by low-frequency noise, and birds respond to this by singing higher-pitched songs. Most reports of this strategy involve oscines, a group of birds with learning-based song variability, and it is doubtful whether species that lack song learning (e.g. suboscines) can adjust their songs to noisy environments. We address this question by comparing the degree of song adjustment to noise in a large sample of oscines (17 populations, 14 species) and suboscines (11 populations, 7 species), recorded in Brazil (Manaus, Brasilia and Curitiba) and Mexico City. We found a significantly stronger association between minimum song frequency and noise levels (effect size) in oscines than in suboscines, suggesting a tighter match in oscines between song transmission capacity and ambient acoustics. Suboscines may be more vulnerable to acoustic pollution than oscines and thus less capable of colonizing cities or acoustically novel habitats. Additionally, we found that species whose song frequency was more divergent between populations showed tighter noise-song frequency associations. Our results suggest that song learning and/or song plasticity allows adaptation to new habitats and that this selective advantage may be linked to the evolution of song learning and plasticity. © 2012 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2012 European Society For Evolutionary Biology.

Filiaciones:
Ríos-Chelén A.A.:
 Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Ecol, Dept Ecol Evolut, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico

 Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico DF, Mexico

 Department of Evolution and Ecology, University of California, One Shields Avenue, 2320, Storer Hall, Davis, CA 95616, United States

Salaberria C.:
 Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain

Barbosa I.:
 Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Ecol, Dept Ecol Evolut, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico

 Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, Mexico DF, Mexico

Garcia, CM:
 Univ Nacl Autonoma Mexico, Inst Ecol, Dept Ecol Evolut, Mexico City 04510, DF, Mexico

Gil D.:
 Departamento de Ecología Evolutiva, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), Madrid, Spain
ISSN: 1010061X
Editorial
WILEY-BLACKWELL, 111 RIVER ST, HOBOKEN 07030-5774, NJ USA, Estados Unidos America
Tipo de documento: Article
Volumen: 25 Número: 11
Páginas: 2171-2180
WOS Id: 000310550400003
ID de PubMed: 22905893
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