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The song doesn't remain the same in fragmented bird populations
March 19, 2008The song of passerine birds is a conspicuous and exaggerated display shaped by sexual selection in the context of male-male competition or mate attraction. At the level of the individual, song is considered an indicator of male 'quality'.
Paola Laiolo and colleagues at the Spanish Council of Research (CSIC) studied the metapopulation system of the Dupont's lark in north-eastern Spain and found an association between individual song diversity and the viability of the population as a whole, as measured by the annual rate of population change. This association arises because males from the most numerous and productive populations, i.e. those less prone to extinction, sang songs with greater complexity. The findings are published in this week's PLoS ONE.
Birds from smaller populations sang less complex songs as they experienced a poor cultural milieu (as songs are learned), and had possibly a lower mating success. Cultural attributes may therefore reflect not only individual-level characteristics, but also emergent population-level properties. This finding opens the way to the study of animal cultural diversity in the increasingly common human-altered landscapes.
More than 500 songbird species are globally threatened, most of them because of habitat loss and fragmentation in a variety of ecosystems and remote regions. In these conditions, traditional long-term population monitoring is a difficult if not unaffordable task. Given its easily quantifiable nature, this study suggests that birdsong could become an early warning signal of populations in trouble.
Public Library of Science
More than 500 songbird species are globally threatened, most of them because of habitat loss and fragmentation in a variety of ecosystems and remote regions. In these conditions, traditional long-term population monitoring is a difficult if not unaffordable task. Given its easily quantifiable nature, this study suggests that birdsong could become an early warning signal of populations in trouble.
Public Library of Science
Songbird News and Current Songbird Events RSSBirds communicate reproductive success in song
Some migratory songbirds figure out the best place to live by eavesdropping on the singing of others that successfully have had baby birds - a communication and behavioral trait so strong that researchers playing recorded songs induced them to nest in places they otherwise would have avoided.
Polluted prey causes wild birds to change their tune
Considerable attention has been paid to the effects of endocrine disrupting chemicals in aquatic environments, but rather less attention has been given to routes of contamination on land.
Songbirds offer clues to highly practiced motor skills in humans
The melodious sound of a songbird may appear effortless, but his elocutions are actually the result of rigorous training undergone in youth and maintained throughout adulthood. His tune has virtually "crystallized" by maturity.
For migrating sparrows, kids have a compass, but adults have the map
Even bird brains can get to know an entire continent -- but it takes them a year of migration to do so, suggests a Princeton research team.
Testosterone turns male juncos into blustery hunks -- and bad dads
The ability to ramp up testosterone production appears to drive male dark-eyed juncos to find and win mates, but it comes with an evolutionary cost. Big fluctuations in testosterone may also cause males to lose interest in parenting their own young, scientists have learned.
Steroids, not songs, spur growth of brain regions in sparrows
Neuroscientists are attempting to understand if structural changes in the brain are related to sensory experience or the performance of learned behavior, and now University of Washington researchers have found evidence that one species of songbird apparently has something in common with a few baseball sluggers. Both rely on steroids.
Bird Song Study Gives Clues to Human Stuttering
Researchers at the Methodist Neurological Institute (NI) in Houston and Weill Cornell Medical College in New York City used functional MRI to determine that songbirds have a pronounced right-brain response to the sound of songs, establishing a foundational study for future research on songbird models of speech disorders such as stuttering.
A Bacterial Genome Reveals Targets to Combat Disease: Press Release from PLoS Biology
A bacterial genome reveals new targets to combat infectious disease
Nature press release for 5 September issue
[1] RELICS: THE PRODIGAL NEANDERTHAL (pp33-34) The beautifully preserved and extremely rare skeleton of a newborn Neanderthal, thought to have been lost to science for almost 90 years, has been rediscovered. The finding could lead to new insights into the evolution of human development as well as the relationship between us and our long-extinct cousins. The fossil - a baby Neanderthal just four months old when it died - is called `Le Moustier 2` after its discovery in 1914 near Le Moustier in the Dordogne, southwest France. After the fossil was originally described in 1921 it vanished, believed to have been taken to Paris. Then in 1996 the foss
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