Dissertation Research: Vocal Behavior at Subspecies and Dialect Boundaries in the Bronzed Cowbird

论文研究：古铜色牛鹂亚种和方言边界的发声行为

• 批准号: 9801490
• 负责人: Michael Ryan
• 金额: $ 1万
• 依托单位: University of Texas at Austin
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 1998
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 1998-05-15 至 2000-10-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9801490&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Dissertation; Research; Vocal; Behavior; Subspecies

Non Technical Abstract Proposal #: 98001041 PI: M. Ryan / P. Warren The last three years of research on the bronzed cowbird (Molothrusaeneus)have uncovered a social system that differs in many important ways from other birds. This project will attempt to determine what effects these differences have on their evolution. Songs of male bronzed cowbirds will be recorded and compared among different populations. Songs will also be played back to male cowbirds to determine what variation in song means to the birds. As brood parasites, cowbirds possess an unusual form of reproduction; the female cowbird lays her eggs in the nests of other bird species who then raise her offspring as if it were their own. The effects of brood parasitism on the cowbirds' host species have been much publicized and much debated. But what are the evolutionary consequences for the cowbirds themselves? One consequence is that male cowbirds do not have the opportunity to learn their songs until they leave their foster parents and join their own species. Thus, their opportunities for learning are constrained in a way unlike that in other species. What role does song learning play in evolutionary processes like speciation? To address this problem, this study asks whether groups of cowbirds which have been separate from one other are likely to split into different species. It is hoped that information gathered on this little-studied species of cowbird will contribute to a general understanding of its behavior, its use of habitat, and therefore its potential to impacts on other species.

非技术摘要提案编号：98001041 PI：M. Ryan / P. Warren 过去三年对古铜色牛鹂（Molothrusaeneus）的研究揭示了一种在许多重要方面与其他鸟类不同的社会系统。 该项目将尝试确定这些差异对其进化有何影响。 雄性古铜色牛鹂的歌声将被记录并在不同种群之间进行比较。 还将向雄性牛鹂播放歌曲，以确定歌曲的变化对鸟类意味着什么。 作为巢寄生生物，牛鹂具有不寻常的繁殖方式。 雌性牛鹂将蛋产在其他鸟类的巢中，然后这些鸟类将她的后代当作自己的孩子一样抚养。 巢寄生对牛鹂宿主物种的影响已被广泛宣传和争论。 但是牛鹂本身的进化后果是什么？ 结果之一是，雄性牛鹂没有机会学习它们的歌曲，直到它们离开养父母并加入自己的物种。 因此，与其他物种不同，它们的学习机会受到限制。 歌曲学习在物种形成等进化过程中发挥什么作用？ 为了解决这个问题，这项研究询问彼此分离的牛鹂群体是否可能分裂成不同的物种。 希望收集到的有关这种鲜为人知的牛鹂物种的信息将有助于人们普遍了解其行为、栖息地的利用及其对其他物种影响的潜力。