DOCSLIB.ORG

Advances in Studies of Avian Sound Communication

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text

Load more

The Condor96:817-830 0 The CooperOrnithological society 1994 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ADVANCES IN STUDIES OF AVIAN SOUND COMMUNICATION Lurs F. BAFTISTA Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy, California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco,CA 94118 SANDRAL. L. GAUNT Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics,Department of Zoology, The Ohio State University, Columbus,OH 43221 Abstract. Ground-breaking advances in the study of animal sound communication per se, and avian vocal behavior in particular, awaited instrumentation that enabled capture of sound signals for objective description and analyses. Once these technological advances becamegenerally available, a groundswellof activity in vocal studies,bioacoustics, provided the “raw material” for hypothesistesting pertaining to various biological and evolutionary principles. All aspectsof this field cannot be covered in one review. Thus, themes developed herein deal primarily with questions of vocal acquisition such as factors affecting song learning, the sensitive phase and stimulus filtering hypothesespertaining to the learning process,the effect of vocal behavior on population dynamics, the effect of hormones on the songlearning processand production, photoperiod and song as they are related to gonadal recrudescence,advances in the neurophysiologicalcontrol of song acquisition and produc- tion, and the incidence of female song and function acrosstaxa. Key words: Song; songlearning: vocal acquisitions;vocalizations. All disciplines in biology begin with observation and field biologist, who had to wait until the instrument description, and when the field matures, develop into was declassifiedafter the war for its introduction to the an experimental-hypothesistesting stage(Stresemann mass market. Prior to that time, important develop- 1947). Although the vocalizations of most birds are ments in microphone and parabolic reflector use had yet undescribed, sufficient specieshave been studied been introduced for field biologists by Kellogg, Allen that experimentation and hypothesis testing have ad- and Tanner (Kellogg 1962). Associated with tape-re- vanced. Concomitant with this maturation have been corderswere parallel improvements in magnetic tapes continuing technological innovations which have en- and microphones. Today digital technologyis proving abled scientiststo not only capture,reproduce and thus as revolutionary in bioacousticsstudies as the advent describethese otherwise ephemeral behaviors, but also of the magnetic tape recorder both in digital sound to objectively analyze the sounds that birds produce, recording and computer technologyfor sound synthe- to study the development of these sounds,to hypoth- sis, manipulation and analysis. esize and then designexperiments to test the functions The special requirements of the field biologist for of those sounds, and to interpret these data in terms recording sound under less than ideal conditions are of evolutionary principles. Thus studiesof sound com- seldom the concern of commercial instrument devel- munication behavior, or bioacoustics,can and is con- opers. Thus, advances in conceptual issues in bio- tributing to our growing understanding of many un- acousticshave played leap frog with instrumentation derlying principles of biology. developments for the medical, military and entertain- In this essay, a brief survey of recent advances in ment industries. Insights into animal behavior have instrumentation which have facilitated the analysesof been coupled with advances in technologies not de- bird soundsis presentedfollowed by a review of some veloped for their specificapplication. A prime example of the contributions that avian bioacousticshas made of this mismatch was the introduction and develop- to various fields of biology. ment of sound spectrographic(also termed sonograph- ic) technology that has been the work-horse in bio- INSTRUMENTATION acousticanalysis for over 40 years. Early descriptionsof bird soundswere onomatopoeic Spectrographictechnology was originally designed (Saunders1935), or used musical notations (one of the by the Bell Laboratory prior to World War II to pro- last being Miller 1952). Though methods for capturing duce pictures of human speechthat could be used by sounds existed in the 1800s and early 1900s (phono deaf personsto “read” spoken language(Potter 1945). discs, wire recorders,motion picture film), none were Only one test subject ever developed a rudimentary particularly well suited for field conditions. The in- ability to decipher spoken words from spectrograms novation ofthe magnetictape recorderby the Germans (also termed sonograms).However, the U.S. Navy rec- during World War II was the true breakthroughfor the ognized the utility of the device to detect subtle dif- B171 818 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVES ferences between individual submarines, and thus ( Wilsonia citrina) and Wood Thrush (Hylocichla mus- spectrographictechnology was classifiedfor the dura- telina) songs often consisted of notes opposite in di- tion of the war. Several technical reports published rection of frequencymodulation and thus must be pro- after the war suggestedthe power of the instrument- duced by the two separatesound sources.Greenewalt especiallyto describesuch sounds as producedby birds (1968) described this two-voice phenomenon in other that were often discreteand poor in overtone structure oscinesand first developed the thesis that each side of (Potter 1945). the syrinx contributed to each “voice.” EuropeanStar- Spectrographicanalysis provided scientistswith an lings (Sturnus vulgaris) may actually imitate the vo- image of the soundsanalyzed (spectrograms)and per- calizationsof two allospecificssimultaneously (Jenkins mitted quantification of sound parameters from that in Baptista 1990a), a most unusualexample of the two- display. These data could then be subjectedto statis- voice phenomenon. There has been much advance- tical treatment (Collias 1991). The first studiesof bird ment of our knowledge of syringealfunction and song songusing the sound spectrographwere published in- production since Greenewalt’s pioneering text, but re- dependently by Borror-and Reese (1953), Kellogg and view of this area of avian communication is beyond Stein (1953). and Collias and Joos (19531, and avian the scopeofthe presentwork. We refer thoseinterested bioacdustics’passed from anecdotal to objective de- to the reviews of Gaunt and Gaunt (1985) and Gaunt scription. (1987). Use of the sound spectrographmachine was limited to two or four seconds of analyses at a time. This REPERTOIRE SIZE sufficedwhen usedto analyze soundsof short duration. Hartshome (1956; seealso Kroodsma and Vemer 1978) Analyses of long continuous songssuch as those pro- describedthe manner of songdelivery in birds as “con- duced by Mockingbirds (Mimus polyglottos)and Ca- tinuous” versus “discontinuous.” Continuous singers tharusthrushes (Howard 1974, Raitt and Hardy 1970) are thosebirds, suchas mockingbirdsor skylarks(Alau- were formidable tasks indeed, until the development da arvensis),that sing long songswith short intervals ofthe continuousspectral analyzer (Hopkins et al. 1974). of silencebetween bursts of sound, whereasdiscontin- This technology has evolved to digital systemswhich uous singers are those with short songs (two to four allow for real-time spectrographicdisplay and digital seconds long) divided by longer intervals of silence. analysis such as the dedicated DSP Sona-graph ma- The intervals of silence labeled as “cadence” by Rey- chine, Kay Elemetrics, or computer programsfor per- nard (1963) may be speciesspecific. Within a species, sonal computers such as SIGNAL from Engineering cadence may be used to advertise individual fitness Design and CANARY from the Cornell Laboratory of (Payne and Payne 1977). Ornithology. These advancesin computer technology Thus repertoire size in bird song may be described have enabled investigatorsto analyze sound and sub- in terms of syllabletypes or number of themes or both. ject massesof data to statistical treatment in a timely Speciesmay differ considerablyin repertoire size even manner. Cross-correlation programs permit investi- within a family. For example, among emberizid finches gators to compare syllables uttered by different indi- we find a continuum between the Chipping Sparrow viduals, populations and widely separatedgeographic (Spizellapasserina) at one extreme who singsonly one areasin an objective manner (Gaunt et al. 1994). Com- songtype to the Five-striped Sparrow (Aimophila quin- puters also enable bioacousticiansto manipulate cap- quefasciata)who may singover 200 songtypes (Marler tured natural sounds or synthesize sounds for use in and Isaac 1960, Groschupfand Mills 1982). In between tutoring (Marler and Peters 1977, Konishi 1985) and are suchspecies as the Black-chinnedSparrow (SpizeNa playback. atrogularis) who sings two song types (Baptista, un- published),or Dark-eyed Juncos(Junco hyemalis) who DESCRIPTIVE STUDIES sing three to seven or Song Sparrows (Melospiza me- lo&a) who sing 10 or 20 (Williams and MacRoberts THE INDIVIDUAL SONG 1977, Mulligan 1966). Irwin (1988) has presented a Speciesspecificity in bird sounds may be encoded in thesis that in some groups,including emberizids, song duration or rhythm (seconds),in frequency (kHz), or complexity has been reducedduring the courseof evo- in tonal quality (Becker 1982). Tonal quality may be lution. coded in the harmonic structure of the sound (Davis 1964, Mailer 1969) or by singing two unrelated notes SONG SHARING or series of notes simultaneously
Recommended publications
  • Birds of Bharatpur – Check List

    Birds of Bharatpur – Check List

    BIRDS OF BHARATPUR – CHECK LIST Family PHASIANIDAE: Pheasants, Partridges, Quail Check List BLACK FRANCOLIN GREY FRANCOLIN COMMON QUAIL RAIN QUAIL JUNGLE BUSH QUAIL YELLOW-LEGGED BUTTON QUAIL BARRED BUTTON QUAIL PAINTED SPURFOWL INDIAN PEAFOWL Family ANATIDAE: Ducks, Geese, Swans GREATER WHITE-FRONTED GOOSE GREYLAG GOOSE BAR-HEADED GOOSE LWSSER WHISTLING-DUCK RUDDY SHELDUCK COMMON SHELDUCK COMB DUCK COTTON PYGMY GOOSE MARBLED DUCK GADWALL FALCATED DUCK EURASIAN WIGEON MALLARD SPOT-BILLED DUCK COMMON TEAL GARGANEY NORTHERN PINTAIL NORTHERN SHOVELER RED-CRESTED POCHARD COMMON POCHARD FERRUGINOUS POCHARD TUFTED DUCK BAIKAL TEAL GREATER SCAUP BAER’S POCHARD Family PICIDAE: Woodpeckers EURASIAN WRYNECK BROWN-CAPPED PYGMY WOODPECKER YELLOW-CROWNED WOODPECKER BLACK-RUMPED FLAMBACK Family CAPITONIDAE: Barbets BROWN-HEADED BARBET COPPERSMITH BARBET Family UPUPIDAE: Hoopoes COMMON HOOPOE Family BUCEROTIDAE: Hornbills INDAIN GREY HORNBILL Family CORACIIDAE: Rollers or Blue Jays EUROPEAN ROLLER INDIAN ROLLER Family ALCEDINIDAE: Kingfisher COMMON KINGFISHER STORK-BILLED KINGFISHER WHITE-THROATED KINGFISHER BLACK-CAPPED KINGFISHER PIED KINGFISHER Family MEROPIDAE: Bee-eaters GREEN BEE-EATER BLUE-CHEEKED BEE-EATER BLUE-TAILED BEE-EATER Family CUCULIDAE: Cuckoos, Crow-pheasants PIED CUCKOO CHESTNUT-WINGED CUCKOO COMMON HAWK CUCKOO INDIAN CUCKOO EURASIAN CUCKOO GREY-BELLIED CUCKOO PLAINTIVE CUCKOO DRONGO CUCKOO ASIAN KOEL SIRKEER MALKOHA GREATER COUCAL LESSER COUCAL Family PSITTACIDAS: Parrots ROSE-RINGED PARAKEET PLUM-HEADED PARKEET Family APODIDAE:
  • The Evolution of Human Vocal Emotion

    The Evolution of Human Vocal Emotion

    EMR0010.1177/1754073920930791Emotion ReviewBryant 930791research-article2020 SPECIAL SECTION: EMOTION IN THE VOICE Emotion Review Vol. 13, No. 1 (January 2021) 25 –33 © The Author(s) 2020 ISSN 1754-0739 DOI:https://doi.org/10.1177/1754073920930791 10.1177/1754073920930791 The Evolution of Human Vocal Emotion https://journals.sagepub.com/home/emr Gregory A. Bryant Department of Communication, Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture, University of California, Los Angeles, USA Abstract Vocal affect is a subcomponent of emotion programs that coordinate a variety of physiological and psychological systems. Emotional vocalizations comprise a suite of vocal behaviors shaped by evolution to solve adaptive social communication problems. The acoustic forms of vocal emotions are often explicable with reference to the communicative functions they serve. An adaptationist approach to vocal emotions requires that we distinguish between evolved signals and byproduct cues, and understand vocal affect as a collection of multiple strategic communicative systems subject to the evolutionary dynamics described by signaling theory. We should expect variability across disparate societies in vocal emotion according to culturally evolved pragmatic rules, and universals in vocal production and perception to the extent that form–function relationships are present. Keywords emotion, evolution, signaling, vocal affect Emotional communication is central to social life for many ani- 2001; Pisanski, Cartei, McGettigan, Raine, & Reby, 2016; mals. Beginning with Darwin
  • Science News | December 19, 2009 Feature | Humans Wonder, Anybody Home?

    Science News | December 19, 2009 Feature | Humans Wonder, Anybody Home?

    FEATURE | HUMANS WONDER, ANYBODY HOME? To prevent Shania the octopus from becom- Humans wonder, ing bored, keepers at the National Aquarium in Washington, D.C., gave her a Mr. Potato Head filled with fish to snuggle. Researchers anybody are now looking beyond behavior into the brain for signs of awareness in birds and invertebrates. home? Brain structure and circuitry offer clues to consciousness in nonmammals By Susan Gaidos ne afternoon while participat­ except for the fact that Betty was a New ing in studies in a University Caledonian crow. of Oxford lab, Abel snatched Betty isn’t the only crow with such a hook away from Betty, leav­ conceptual ingenuity. Nor are crows the Oing her without a tool to complete a task. only members of the animal kingdom to Spying a piece of straight wire nearby, exhibit similar mental powers. Animals POST WASHINGTON THE she picked it up, bent one end into a can do all sorts of clever things: Studies EARY/ L ’ hook and used it to finish the job. Noth­ of chimpanzees, gorillas, dolphins and O ILL ing about this story was remarkable, birds have found that some can add, B 22 | SCIENCE NEWS | December 19, 2009 www.sciencenews.org FEATURE | HUMANS WONDER, ANYBODY HOME? subtract, create sentences, plan ahead objects in their visual field. “This raises or deceive others. the intriguing question whether con­ Brain-on-brain comparisons To carry out such tasks, these animals scious experience requires the specific In an effort to find signs of conscious- ness, scientists are identifying analo- must be drawing on past experiences and structure of human or primate brains,” gous structures (same coloring) among then using them along with immediate biologist Donald Griffin wrote inAnimal the brains of humans, birds, octopuses perceptions to make sense of it all.
  • Going Beyond Just-So Stories Response to Commentary on Key on Fish Pain

    Going Beyond Just-So Stories Response to Commentary on Key on Fish Pain

    Animal Sentience 2016.022: Response to Commentary on Key on Fish Pain Going beyond just-so stories Response to Commentary on Key on Fish Pain Brian Key School of Biomedical Sciences University of Queensland Abstract: Colloquial arguments for fish feeling pain are deeply rooted in anthropometric tendencies that confuse escape responses to noxious stimuli with evidence for consciousness. More developed arguments often rely on just-so stories of fish displaying complex behaviours as proof of consciousness. In response to commentaries on the idea that fish do not feel pain, I raise the need to go beyond just-so stories and to rigorously analyse the neural circuitry responsible for specific behaviours using new and emerging technologies in neuroscience. By deciphering the causal relationship between neural information processing and conscious behaviour, it should be possible to assess cogently the likelihood of whether a vertebrate species has the neural hardware necessary to — at least — support the feeling of pain. Brian Key [email protected] is Head of the Brain Growth and Regeneration Lab at the University of Queensland. He is dedicated to understanding the principles of stem cell biology, differentiation, axon guidance, plasticity, regeneration and development of the brain. http://www.uq.edu.au/sbms/staff/brian-key Just-so stories In this response to commentaries on the target article “Fish do not feel pain” (Key), I do not plan to interrogate either the putative behavioural evidence or the just-so stories previously proposed as supportive of fish feeling pain (Balcombe; Braithwaite & Droege; Broom; Brown; Dinets; Ng). These claims have been adequately addressed and refuted in recent literature (Key, 2015a and 2015b; Rose et al., 2014).
  • Supplementary Material

    Supplementary Material

    Pterocles alchata (Pin-tailed Sandgrouse) European Red List of Birds Supplementary Material The European Union (EU27) Red List assessments were based principally on the official data reported by EU Member States to the European Commission under Article 12 of the Birds Directive in 2013-14. For the European Red List assessments, similar data were sourced from BirdLife Partners and other collaborating experts in other European countries and territories. For more information, see BirdLife International (2015). Contents Reported national population sizes and trends p. 2 Trend maps of reported national population data p. 3 Sources of reported national population data p. 5 Species factsheet bibliography p. 6 Recommended citation BirdLife International (2015) European Red List of Birds. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities. Further information http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/info/euroredlist http://www.birdlife.org/europe-and-central-asia/european-red-list-birds-0 http://www.iucnredlist.org/initiatives/europe http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/conservation/species/redlist/ Data requests and feedback To request access to these data in electronic format, provide new information, correct any errors or provide feedback, please email [email protected]. THE IUCN RED LIST OF THREATENED SPECIES™ BirdLife International (2015) European Red List of Birds Pterocles alchata (Pin-tailed Sandgrouse) Table 1. Reported national breeding population size and trends in Europe1. Country (or Population estimate Short-term
  • Transport of Water by Adult Sandgrouse to Their Young Tom J

    Transport of Water by Adult Sandgrouse to Their Young Tom J

    THE CONDOR VOLUME69 JULY-AUGUST,1967 NUMBER4 TRANSPORT OF WATER BY ADULT SANDGROUSE TO THEIR YOUNG TOM J. CADE and GORDONL. MACLEAN In 1896 the English aviculturist Meade-Waldo published an astonishing and seemingly incredible account of how the males of sandgrouse that he successfully bred in captivity carried water to their young in their breast feathers. To quote from his original report: As soon as the young were out of the nest (when twelve hours old) a very curious habit developed itself in the male. He would rub his breast violently up and down on the ground, a motion quite distinct from dusting, and when all awry he would get into his drinking water and saturate the feathers of the under parts. When soaked he would go through the motions of flying away, nodding his head, etc. Then, remembering his family were close by, would run up to the hen, make a demonstration, when the young would run out, get under him, and suckthe water from his breast. This is no doubt the way that water is conveyed to the young when far out on waterless plains. The young . are very independent, eating hard seed and weeds from the first, and roosting independently of their parents at ten days old (Meade-Waldo, 1896). See also Meade- Waldo (1921). Despite the fact that .Meade-Waldo (1897 ; 1921) observed 61 broods from three different species of sandgrouse hatched in his aviaries between 189.5 and l915, and soon received confirmation from another breeder for two species (St. Quintin, 1905), and despite the fact that field naturalists and native hunters have frequently observed wild male sandgrouse wetting their breast feathers at water holes in the way described (Meade-Waldo, 1906; Buxton, 1923; Heim de Balsac, 1936; Hoesch, 1955), the idea that the young do receive water in this exceptional way has met with a great deal of scepticism (Archer and Godman, 1937; Meinertzhagen, 1954, 1964; Hiie and Etchkcopar, 1957; Schmidt-Nielsen, 1964).
  • A Novel Reinforcement Model of Birdsong Vocalization Learning

    A Novel Reinforcement Model of Birdsong Vocalization Learning

    A Novel Reinforcement Model of Birdsong Vocalization Learning Kenji Doya Terrence J. Sejnowski ATR Human Infonnation Processing Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Laboratories UCSD and Salk Institute, 2-2 Hikaridai, Seika, Kyoto 619-02, Japan San Diego, CA 92186-5800, USA Abstract Songbirds learn to imitate a tutor song through auditory and motor learn­ ing. We have developed a theoretical framework for song learning that accounts for response properties of neurons that have been observed in many of the nuclei that are involved in song learning. Specifically, we suggest that the anteriorforebrain pathway, which is not needed for song production in the adult but is essential for song acquisition, provides synaptic perturbations and adaptive evaluations for syllable vocalization learning. A computer model based on reinforcement learning was con­ structed that could replicate a real zebra finch song with 90% accuracy based on a spectrographic measure. The second generation of the bird­ song model replicated the tutor song with 96% accuracy. 1 INTRODUCTION Studies of motor pattern generation have generally focussed on innate motor behaviors that are genetically preprogrammed and fine-tuned by adaptive mechanisms (Harris-Warrick et al., 1992). Birdsong learning provides a favorable opportunity for investigating the neuronal mechanisms for the acquisition of complex motor patterns. Much is known about the neuroethology of bird song and its neuroanatomical substrate (see Nottebohm, 1991 and Doupe, 1993 for reviews), but relatively little is known about the overall system from a computational viewpoint. We propose a set of hypotheses for the functions of the brain nuclei in the song system and explore their computational strength in a model based on biological constraints.
  • The Water-Holding Mechanism of Sandgrouse Feathers by A

    The Water-Holding Mechanism of Sandgrouse Feathers by A

    '. Exp. BM. (1972), 56, 195-200 ith 2 text-figures Printed in Great Britain THE WATER-HOLDING MECHANISM OF SANDGROUSE FEATHERS BY A. M. RIJKE Department of Materials Science, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia 22901 {Received 15 June 1971) INTRODUCTION The detailed studies of Cade & Maclean (1967) on the mechanism of water transport by the sandgrouse Pterocles have contributed important evidence to the long-standing controversy regarding the manner in which the young obtain their drinking water. The field observations of these authors have shown conclusively that the male of the species soaks his abdominal feathers by squatting down in water-holes, usually during the early hours. He then speeds off to the nesting site where the young gather around his exposed abdomen and obtain their water by stripping his belly feathers with their beaks. In addition to this behaviour it has been noted that the abdominal feathers of the male, and to a lesser extent those of the female, show a number of structural charac- teristics which render the uptake of water particularly effective. The distal fifths of these feathers are very similar to the feathers of other parts of the sandgrouse body in that they show the conventional structural array of barbs and barbules with their characteristic water-repelling properties. The structural parameter (r+d)jr for both male and female rates between 5-5 and 6-2 with slightly higher values within this range for the dorsal side. This result is in line with similar data on other terrestrial birds, indicating an effective water repellency without the necessity of preventing water penetration (Rijke, 1970).
  • Quantification of Developmental Birdsong Learning from The

    Quantification of Developmental Birdsong Learning from The

    Quantification of developmental birdsong learning from the subsyllabic scale to cultural evolution Dina Lipkind1 and Ofer Tchernichovski Department of Psychology, Hunter College, City University of New York, New York, NY 10065 Edited by Donald W. Pfaff, The Rockefeller University, New York, NY, and approved February 4, 2011 (received for review August 31, 2010) Quantitative analysis of behavior plays an important role in bird- The genome of a songbird was sequenced earlier this year (12), song neuroethology, serving as a common denominator in studies motivated in part by the goal of discovering the genetic spanning molecular to system-level investigation of sensory-motor changes (as revealed by comparison with the chicken genome) conversion, developmental learning, and pattern generation in that led to the evolution of vocal learning. In contrast to auditory the brain. In this review, we describe the role of behavioral analysis learning (the ability to discriminate between sounds), vocal in facilitating cross-level integration. Modern sound analysis ap- learning (the ability to imitate complex sounds) is rare in nature, but in birds it probably evolved in three out of the 25–28 known proaches allow investigation of developmental song learning across – multiple time scales. Combined with novel methods that allow orders: songbirds, parrots, and hummingbirds (13 17). Aside experimental control of vocal changes, it is now possible to test from humans, vocal learning in mammals has been conclusively hypotheses about mechanisms of vocal learning. Further, song demonstrated only in dolphins, whales (18), and bats (19), but not in apes. Vocal learners share similar forebrain structures neces- analysis can be done at the population level across generations to sary to produce and acquire their learned vocalization (whether track cultural evolution and multigenerational behavioral processes.
  • Sandgrouserefs Ver1.0.Pdf

    Sandgrouserefs Ver1.0.Pdf

    Introduction I have endeavoured to keep typos, errors, omissions etc in this list to a minimum, however when you find more I would be grateful if you could mail the details during 2016 & 2017 to: [email protected]. Please note that this and other Reference Lists I have compiled are not exhaustive and are best employed in conjunction with other sources. Grateful thanks to Killian Mullarney for the cover images. All images © the photographer. Joe Hobbs Index The general order of species follows the International Ornithologists' Union World Bird List (Gill, F. & Donsker, D. (eds.) 2016. IOC World Bird List. Available from: http://www.worldbirdnames.org/ [version 6.1 accessed February 2016]). Version Version 1.0 (May 2016). Cover Main image: Chestnut-bellied and Spotted Sandgrouse. Near Thumrayt, Oman. 3rd November 2008. Picture by Killian Mullarney. Vignette: Spotted Sandgrouse. Near Thumrayt, Oman. 3rd November 2008. Picture by Killian Mullarney. Species Page No. Black-bellied Sandgrouse [Pterocles orientalis] 6 Black-faced Sandgrouse [Pterocles decoratus] 8 Burchell's Sandgrouse [Pterocles burchelli] 10 Chestnut-bellied Sandgrouse [Pterocles exustus] 5 Crowned Sandgrouse [Pterocles coronatus] 8 Double-banded Sandgrouse [Pterocles bicinctus] 9 Four-banded Sandgrouse [Pterocles quadricinctus] 9 Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse [Pterocles lichtensteinii] 8 Madagascar Sandgrouse [Pterocles personatus] 8 Namaqua Sandgrouse [Pterocles namaqua] 4 Painted Sandgrouse [Pterocles indicus] 9 Pallas's Sandgrouse [Syrrhaptes paradoxus] 3 Pin-tailed Sandgrouse [Pterocles alchata] 3 Spotted Sandgrouse [Pterocles senegallus] 6 Tibetan Sandgrouse [Syrrhaptes tibetanus] 2 Yellow-throated Sandgrouse [Pterocles gutturalis] 7 1 Relevant Publications Beaman, M. 1994. Palearctic birds: a checklist of the birds of Europe, North Africa and Asia north of the foothills of the Himalayas.
  • A Study of the Ecology of the Namaqua Sandgrouse and Other Arid-Zone Birds

    A Study of the Ecology of the Namaqua Sandgrouse and Other Arid-Zone Birds

    A STUDY OF THE ECOLOGY OF THE NAMAQUA SANDGROUSE AND OTHER ARID-ZONE BIRDS PENN LLOYD Thesis Presented for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Percy Fitzpatrick I nstitute of African Ornithology UNIVERSITY OF CAPE TOWN February 1998' The copyright of this thesis vests in the author. No quotation from it or information derived from it is to be published without full acknowledgement of the source. The thesis is to be used for private study or non- commercial research purposes only. Published by the University of Cape Town (UCT) in terms of the non-exclusive license granted to UCT by the author. "Part of facing up to the realities and complexity of nature is admilting that any approach we take will be incomplete, imperfect. provisional, experimental. The important thing is 10 try: Stephen Budiansky in Nature's Keepers And here I Iry I dedicate this thesis to my mother COLLEEN LLOYD for her many sacrifices to ensure my first-class education. and to DEKKER and SIKKIE STADLER whose hospitality and support kept me sane and made much of this study possible. I TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACf ........................................................................................................................................................... ] ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ................................................................................................................................. 0 CHAPTERl GENERAL INTRODUCfION ...........................................................................................................................
  • Coos, Booms, and Hoots: the Evolution of Closed-Mouth Vocal Behavior in Birds

    Coos, Booms, and Hoots: the Evolution of Closed-Mouth Vocal Behavior in Birds

    ORIGINAL ARTICLE doi:10.1111/evo.12988 Coos, booms, and hoots: The evolution of closed-mouth vocal behavior in birds Tobias Riede, 1,2 Chad M. Eliason, 3 Edward H. Miller, 4 Franz Goller, 5 and Julia A. Clarke 3 1Department of Physiology, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona 85308 2E-mail: [email protected] 3Department of Geological Sciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Texas 78712 4Department of Biology, Memorial University, St. John’s, Newfoundland and Labrador A1B 3X9, Canada 5Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City 84112, Utah Received January 11, 2016 Accepted June 13, 2016 Most birds vocalize with an open beak, but vocalization with a closed beak into an inflating cavity occurs in territorial or courtship displays in disparate species throughout birds. Closed-mouth vocalizations generate resonance conditions that favor low-frequency sounds. By contrast, open-mouth vocalizations cover a wider frequency range. Here we describe closed-mouth vocalizations of birds from functional and morphological perspectives and assess the distribution of closed-mouth vocalizations in birds and related outgroups. Ancestral-state optimizations of body size and vocal behavior indicate that closed-mouth vocalizations are unlikely to be ancestral in birds and have evolved independently at least 16 times within Aves, predominantly in large-bodied lineages. Closed-mouth vocalizations are rare in the small-bodied passerines. In light of these results and body size trends in nonavian dinosaurs, we suggest that the capacity for closed-mouth vocalization was present in at least some extinct nonavian dinosaurs. As in birds, this behavior may have been limited to sexually selected vocal displays, and hence would have co-occurred with open-mouthed vocalizations.