Vocal mimicry in songbirds

鸣禽的声音模仿

• 批准号: DP240102490
• 负责人: Prof Justin Welbergen
• 金额: $ 33.64万
• 依托单位: Western Sydney University
• 依托单位国家: 澳大利亚
• 项目类别: Discovery Projects
• 财政年份: 2024
• 资助国家: 澳大利亚
• 起止时间: 2024-01-01 至 2026-12-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://dataportal.arc.gov.au/RGS/Web/Grants/DP240102490
• 关键词: Vocal; mimicry; songbirds

Many of the world’s largest clade of birds - the songbirds - incorporate vocal mimicry in their songs, but while scientific interest in vocal mimicry dates from Aristotle, limited progress has been made. With our unique research program we aim to provide an empirically based, theoretically informed understanding of avian vocal mimicry. In an important advance, we will examine both sexes to test long-held male-centric assumptions about evolutionary origins and maintenance of this trait. Crucially, we focus on lineages found only in Australia and PNG, where songbirds originated, to develop a robust scientific understanding of vocal mimicry across the entire songbird clade, and so provide an important new perspective on why and how song began.

世界上许多最大的鸟类分支——鸣禽——在它们的歌曲中融入了声音模仿，但虽然对声音模仿的科学兴趣可以追溯到亚里士多德，但我们独特的研究计划取得的进展有限，我们的目标是提供一种基于经验的、理论上的研究。对鸟类声音拟态的深入理解是一项重要的进展，我们将研究两种性别，以测试长期以来以男性为中心的关于进化起源和这一特征的维持的假设。鸣禽起源地，对整个鸣禽进化枝的声音模仿产生强有力的科学理解，从而为鸣叫为何以及如何开始提供重要的新视角。