Vocal plasticity in a reptile
Vocal plasticity in a reptile
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DOI：
10.1098/rspb.2017.0451
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发表时间：
2017-05-31
影响因子：
4.7
通讯作者：
Zollinger, Sue Anne
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Brumm, Henrik;Zollinger, Sue Anne
鸟类和哺乳动物的复杂的语音交流系统，包括人类的语音，具有高度的可塑性，其中的信号可以根据环境的变化进行单独的调整。在这里，我们提出了，据我们所知，爬行动物声音可塑性的第一个证据。与鸟类和哺乳动物一样，壁虎(壁虎)在有广播噪音的情况下，与安静的环境相比，会延长简短的叫声记录的持续时间，这一行为有助于接收者检测信号。相比之下，他们没有调整他们在噪音中叫声音节的幅度(隆巴德效应)，这与隆巴德效应在鸟类和哺乳动物中独立进化的假设是一致的。然而，壁虎使用了一种不同的策略来提高信噪比：受试者在暴露于噪音中时，不是增加特定呼叫类型的幅度，而是从他们的曲目中产生更多高幅度音节类型。我们的发现表明，爬行动物的发声比之前认为的要灵活得多，包括精心制作的声音可塑性，这对鸟类和哺乳动物的复杂信号系统也很重要。我们认为，信号检测限制是推动动物通信系统跨不同类群进化的主要力量之一。
Sophisticated vocal communication systems of birds and mammals, including human speech, are characterized by a high degree of plasticity in which signals are individually adjusted in response to changes in the environment. Here, we present, to our knowledge, the first evidence for vocal plasticity in a reptile. Like birds and mammals, tokay geckos (Gekko gecko) increased the duration of brief call notes in the presence of broadcast noise compared to quiet conditions, a behaviour that facilitates signal detection by receivers. By contrast, they did not adjust the amplitudes of their call syllables in noise (the Lombard effect), which is in line with the hypothesis that the Lombard effect has evolved independently in birds and mammals. However, the geckos used a different strategy to increase signal-to-noise ratios: instead of increasing the amplitude of a given call type when exposed to noise, the subjects produced more high-amplitude syllable types from their repertoire. Our findings demonstrate that reptile vocalizations are much more flexible than previously thought, including elaborate vocal plasticity that is also important for the complex signalling systems of birds and mammals. We suggest that signal detection constraints are one of the major forces driving the evolution of animal communication systems across different taxa.