DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Function and Semantic Content of Alarm Calls

摘要报警呼叫是动物发现捕食者时发出的声音信号。警报呼叫的潜在代价是昂贵的，因为它们可能会吸引捕食者。这些信号是如何发挥作用的，以及它们是如何进化的，这些问题都很有趣。非人类灵长类动物发出的警报叫声特别令人感兴趣，因为它们提供了人类语言之外语义交流的明确证据。这项研究有三个目的。第一个是检查警报呼叫的当前功能，并阐明其演变。第二个是检查报警呼叫的语义内容，第三个是确定呼叫者对同域物种之间存在的捕食者-猎物关系的了解程度。研究将集中在红疣猴身上，研究人员将在它们的自然环境中监测它们对潜在捕食者和其他猎物发出的声音的声音和行为反应。这些结果将增加我们对动物交流的理解，并深入了解语义交流的演变。

Seyfarth 9520566 Abstract Alarm calls are vocal signals given by animals when they detect predators. Alarm calls are potentially costly, because they may attract predators. The questions of how such signals function, and how they evolve, are intriguing. Alarm calls given by nonhuman primates are of particular interest because they provide clear evidence of semantic communication outside of human language. This research has three objectives. The first is to examine the current function of alarm calls, and to elucidate their evolution. The second is to examine the semantic content of alarm calls, and the third is to determine what callers know about the predator-prey relations that exist among sympatric species. Studies will focus on red colobus monkeys, whose vocal and behavioral responses to tape playback of noises from potential predators and other prey species will be monitored in their natural environment. The results will increase our understanding of animal communication and insight into the evolution of semantic communication.