Vocal learning and cultural evolution in temperate and tropical animals

温带和热带动物的声音学习和文化进化

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-05303
• 负责人: Mennill, Daniel
• 金额: $ 4.3万
• 依托单位: University of Windsor
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2017
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2017-01-01 至 2018-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=631948
• 关键词: Vocal; learning; cultural; evolution; temperate

In eight groups of animals on Earth, including humans and songbirds, juveniles learn to communicate by listening to adults. Vocal learning has important consequences for behavioural ecology – for example, learned vocalizations are critical for defending territories and attracting mates – and for evolutionary biology – for example, learning promotes geographic variation and thereby influences population divergence and speciation. Birds provide an outstanding model system for studying vocal learning because they produce diverse vocal signals, because they have short generation times, and because they respond strongly to experimental playback, making it possible to manipulate the learning process. Whereas traditional studies have focused on learning in males, temperate animals, and captive individuals, I propose highly innovative studies on both male and female vocalizations, on both temperate and tropical animals, and on wild animals in their natural environment. With a team of students and postdocs, I will conduct research on two model systems: a population of temperate sparrows where an unusually high return-rate allows us to track birds from birth to adulthood; and a population of tropical wrens where both sexes sing solo songs and coordinated vocal duets. We will teach songs to young birds using arrays of custom-designed loudspeakers that simulate tutors engaged in realistic vocal interactions. In part A of this investigation, we will experimentally investigate new ideas about vocal learning. We will test hypotheses that young animals preferentially learn songs overheard during interactions rather than solo broadcasts; that both an animal’s early acoustic environment and their pre-breeding social environment modifies vocal learning; that young animals preferentially learn high performance songs that are difficult to perform; and that tropical birds learn to perform duets by listening to adults. In part B, we will conduct longitudinal analyses to study vocal learning in tropical wrens. We will test hypotheses that tropical birds exhibit sex-specific vocal lineages, and that tropical birds learn to combine particular songs from their complex vocal repertoires by following “duet codes”. In part C, we will study cultural evolution in both temperate and tropical birds, documenting patterns of acoustic changes through time and space to better understand imitation, innovation, selection, and drift. Uniquely, we will test and refine theoretical models of cultural evolution by quantifying the evolution of songs we introduce using simulated vocal tutors. This body of research will provide groundbreaking insight into the behaviour, ecology, and evolutionary biology of animals, and answer novel questions about vocal learning and cultural evolution. This research will allow me to train many young Canadian scientists, and develop innovative technologies for studying wild animals.

在地球上的八种动物中，包括人类和鸣禽，幼年动物通过倾听成年人的声音来学习交流，这对行为生态学具有重要影响——例如，习得的发声对于保卫领地和吸引配偶至关重要——对于进化生物学来说也是如此。例如，学习促进了地理差异和影响，因此鸟类为研究声音学习提供了一个出色的模型系统，因为它们产生不同的声音信号，因为它们的生成时间很短，并且因为它们对实验回放做出反应，从而使其成为研究声音学习的重要模型。可能虽然传统研究主要集中在雄性、温带动物和圈养个体的高度学习上，但我建议对雄性和雌性发声、温带和热带动物以及自然环境中的野生动物进行创新研究。我将与一个由学生和博士后组成的团队一起对两个模型系统进行研究：一个是温带麻雀种群，其回报率异常高，使我们能够追踪鸟类从出生到成年的整个过程；另一个是热带鹪鹩种群，其中两性都单独歌唱。歌曲和协调的声音我们将使用一系列定制的扬声器来教幼鸟唱歌，这些扬声器模拟进行真实声音互动的导师。在本研究的 A 部分中，我们将实验性地研究有关幼鸟学习的新想法。学习在互动过程中无意中听到的歌曲，而不是单独的广播；动物的早期声学环境和繁殖前的社会环境都会改变声音学习；年轻的动物优先学习难以表演的高水平歌曲，而热带鸟类也会学习；在 B 部分中，我们将进行纵向分析来研究热带鹪鹩的声音学习，我们将测试热带鸟类表现出特定性别的声音谱系以及热带鸟类学习结合其特定歌曲的假设。在 C 部分，我们将研究温带和热带鸟类的文化进化，记录声音随时间和空间变化的模式，以更好地理解模仿、创新、选择和漂移。将测试并通过量化我们使用模拟声乐导师引入的歌曲的进化来完善文化进化的理论模型，这项研究将为动物的行为、生态和进化生物学提供突破性的见解，并回答有关声音学习和文化进化的新问题。这项研究将使我能够培训许多年轻的加拿大科学家，并开发研究野生动物的创新技术。