Zebra finch song reflects current food availability
Zebra finch song reflects current food availability
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斑胸草雀的歌反映了当前的食物供应情况
DOI：
10.1007/s10682-011-9541-3
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发表时间：
2012
影响因子：
1.9
通讯作者：
Ritschard
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Ritschard
食物的可获得性是一种主要的进化力量，对个人的身体状况有直接影响。由于性选择特征通常取决于条件，它们很可能反映出食物的可获得性或其他生态限制。在这里，我们测试鸟类的鸣叫声是否对食物的可获得性敏感，并可能被雌性用来评估雄性的身体状况和/或领土质量。我们控制了雄性斑马雀的食物可获得性，并评估了处理的个体内部对被认为对配偶选择很重要的歌唱参数的影响。我们发现食物的可获得性对音节曲目、歌曲中有声和无声的比例以及平均歌曲频率没有影响。相比之下，接受治疗的鸟类表现出较低的鸣叫率，较长的鸣叫潜伏期，以及较低的鸣叫幅度和基频。我们的研究表明，斑马雀的歌声反映了食物的可获得性，而饱餐的雄鸟的歌声包含了先前报道的对雌性更具吸引力的特征。这有力地支持了这样一种普遍假设，即女性歌曲偏好的演变是因为歌曲反映了男性和/或领土的质量。此外，我们的研究为环境因素的变化在交配信号的进化中发挥重要作用这一概念提供了佐证。
Food availability is a major evolutionary force that has direct effects on an individual’s body condition. Since sexually selected traits are often condition-dependent, they are likely to reflect food availability or other ecological constraints. Here we test whether bird song, which is thought to be under intense female choice, is sensitive to food availability and might be used by females to assess male body condition and/or territory quality. We manipulated food availability of male zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) and assessed the within-individual effects of the treatment on song parameters that are thought to be important in mate choice. We found no effect of food availability on syllable repertoire, proportion of sound versus silence within a song, and mean song frequency. In contrast, treatment birds showed a reduced song rate, an increased latency to sing, and a lowered song amplitude and fundamental frequency. Our study demonstrates that zebra finch song reflects food availability and that songs of well-fed males contain traits that have previously been reported to be more attractive to females. This adds strong support to the general assumption that female song preferences evolved because song reflects male quality and/or territory quality. Moreover, our study provides corroborative evidence for the notion that variation in environmental factors plays an important role in the evolution of mating signals.