User:Price.820/sandbox

This is Joe Price's sandbox.

Here is my topic and annotated bibliography:

The Evolution of Mimetic Vocalization in Songbirds

Kelley, L.A., R.L. Cole, J.R. Madden, and S.D. Healy. 2008. Vocal mimicry in songbirds. The Association for the Study of Animal Behavior. 76, 521-528.

This paper put together by these researchers discusses the study of mimicry in songbirds, how it has been studied, and how calls have evolved between populations. They mention and go into depth on several topics regarding mimicry such as sexual selection, other scientists hypotheses, social affiliation, or a bird’s ability to learn calls. The authors sited several sources regarding these topics. In the conclusion several questions are presented that still need to be answered involving mimicry.

Coleman, S.W., G.L. Patricelli, B. Coyle, J. Siani, and G. Borgia. 2007. Female preferences drive the evolution of mimetic accuracy in male sexual displays. Biology Letters. 3, 463-466.

This journal article by Coleman and others focuses in on a specific aspect of mimicry in songbirds which is sexual selection and the males’ sexual displays. They isolate the fact that it is unclear why male songbirds mimic males of other species during their sexual displays. They captured and marked several males and during mating season a microphone was prepared to record male sexual displays. In their results, males who mimicked more accurately and mimicked multiple species had a higher number of mating partners and success. This study was able to show the importance in mimetic vocalization on female preference of males.

Byers, B.E., and D.E. Kroodsma. 2008. Female mate choice and songbird song repertoires. The Association for the study of Animal Behavior. 77, 13-22.

This article also is focused on the abilities of males to mimic and the female preferences for these males. Byers and Kroodsma suggest that the repertoires of males have continued to expand because of females that prefer males with larger repertoires. They seem to find that repertoire size depends on the species of bird, with some having small repertoires while others have large ones. This study actually is a review on multiple studies regarding songbirds, so it is a nice collection of information from several studies.

Nowicki, S., W.A. Searcy, M. Hughes, and J. Podos. 2001. The evolution of bird song: male and female response to song innovation in swamp sparrows. The Association for the study of Animal Behavior. 62, 1189-1195.

In this paper Nowicki and company isolate their study to one species of bird, Melospiza georgiana, swamp sparrows. They examined male song syntax and how there are large differences of song syntax in species of songbirds. To study these birds, they introduced males and females to several different types of songs, some with normal syntax and some with broken syntax. The result of these introductions was that both males and female responded positively to broken syntax songs. Overall, they found that having broken syntax did not affect the response to song for both males and females. This paper is helpful because it isolates one trait and how if it is released into a population it would either be selected for or selected against, and in this case, broken syntax would be selected against.

Loffredo, C.A., and G. Borgia. 1986. Male Courtship Vocalizations as Cues for Mate Choice in the Satin Bowerbird (Ptilnorhynchus violaceus). The American Ornithologists’ Union. 103, 189-195.

This paper is effective because the authors Loffredo and Borgia focus on one species of song bird, Male Satin Bowerbirds. They focus on the courtship of males and their patterns of vocalizations. They obtained vocalizations via recording while working in the field in Australia. They describe the courtship in their results and compare it to other species of birds and determining if season is a factor in song choice. They also studied and questioned if age was a factor in the type of songs sang by male individuals. Overall, their results were positive and do seem to show that females have preference in certain types of vocalizations. Having studies specified down to a certain species will help me when I need to add information to specific Wikipedia pages.

October 1st Assignment:

Page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Songbird

Talk: I am currently working on a project for my Evolution course in college. I am looking to add a section regarding the research of songbirds. I have found multiple research articles regarding songbird mimetic vocalization and would like to share this information. 1) In the description section I would give a overview of the vocal abilities of the songbird, adding to the brief points currently on the page, and how this affects their fitness. 2) I can also improve this article by creating a section on vocalization of songbirds using information from scientific sources. In this section I will focus a lot on the effect vocalization has on sexual selection in songbirds as well as other factors mimicry has such as an individual's repertoire of songs. 3) I am able to contribute specific mating preferences by specific examples of species through research articles I have found. These would include characteristics regarding whether the season changes the type of song the bird sings or the syntax of the song the bird sings.

Actual Page: Sexual selection among songbirds is highly based on mimetic vocalization. Female preference has shown in some populations to be based on the extent of a male's song repertoire. The larger a male's repertoire the more females it attracts.

Byers, B.E., and D.E. Kroodsma. 2008. Female mate choice and songbird song repertoires. The Association for the study of Animal Behavior. 77, 13-22

FINAL DRAFT STARTS HERE

Sexual selection can be broken down into several different studies regarding different aspects of a bird’s song. As a result song can vary even within a single species. Many believe that song repertoire and cognition have a direct relationship. However, a recent study has shown that all cognitive ability may not be directly related to the song repertoire of a songbird. Specifically, spatial learning is said to have an inverse relationship with song repertoire. So for example, this would be an individual who does not migrate as far as others in the species, but has a better song repertoire. This suggests an evolutionary trade-off between possible alleles. With natural selection choosing traits best fit for reproductive success there could be a trade off in either direction depending on which trait would produce a higher fitness at that time period (Sewall et al., 2013).

Song repertoire can be attributed to male songbirds as it is one of the main mechanisms of courtship. Song repertoires differ from male individual to male individual and species to species. Some species may typically have large repertoires while others may have significantly smaller ones. Mate choice in female songbirds is a significant realm of study as song abilities are continuously evolving. Currently there have been numerous studies involving songbird repertoires, unfortunately, there has yet been concrete evidence to confirm that every songbird species prefers larger repertoires. A conclusion can be made that it can vary between specific species on whether a larger repertoire is connected to better fitness. With this conclusion, it can be inferred that evolution via natural selection, or sexual selection, favors the ability to retain larger repertoires for these certain species as it leads to higher reproductive success (Byers and Kroodsma, 2008).

During times of courtship, it is said that male songbirds increase their repertoire by mimicking other species songs. The better the mimicking ability, retaining ability, and the quantity of other species mimicked has been proven to have a positive relationship with mating success. Female preferences cause the constant improvement of accuracy and presentation of the copied song (Coleman et al., 2007).

Byers, B.E., and D.E. Kroodsma. 2008. Female mate choice and songbird song repertoires. The Association for the study of Animal Behavior. 77, 13-22.

Coleman, S.W., G.L. Patricelli, B. Coyle, J. Siani, and G. Borgia. 2007. Female preferences drive the evolution of mimetic accuracy in male sexual displays. Biology Letters. 3, 463-466.

Sewall K.B., J.A. Soha, S. Peters, and S. Nowicki. 2013. Potential trade-off between vocal ornamentation and spatial ability in a songbird. Biology Letters. 9, 20130344.