Dissertation Research: Testing an Ecological Hypothesis for the Evolution of Song Development in the Agelaius and Quiscalus Blackbirds (Passeriformes: Icteridae)

论文研究：测试Agelaius和Quiscalus黑鸟鸣叫进化的生态假设鸣禽的声音学习策略的惊人多样性为理解动物交流提供了一个杰出的资源。尽管我们对鸣叫产生和鸣叫学习机制的理解取得了重大进展，但是，我们仍然缺乏一套清晰的假设来解释这种广泛的学习方式的进化，并将它们与动物的生态联系起来。为了满足这一需求，本研究将测试和扩展假设，即歌曲模仿的发展与繁殖社区的稳定一致，歌曲即兴的发展与繁殖社区的不稳定一致。这一假设将通过对两种黑鸟（Agelaius和Quiscalus）的迁徙和定居物种的比较研究来验证。该研究将通过实地研究和饲养实验相结合的方式记录每个物种的鸣叫学习行为。实地研究将测试邻居之间的歌曲共享和微地理歌曲方言的存在，而鸟舍研究将寻找在相同条件下饲养的不同物种的歌曲学习风格的差异。

Dissertation Research: Testing an Ecological Hypothesis for the Evolution of Song Development in the Agelaius and Quiscalus Blackbirds (Passeriformes: Icteridae)DONALD E. KROODSMA AND ELIJAH A. GOODWINThe stunning diversity of vocal learning strategies in the songbirds provides an outstanding resource for understanding animal communication. Despite major advances in our understanding of the mechanisms of song production and song learning, however, we still lack a clear set of hypotheses to explain the evolution of this wide variety in learning styles and to relate them back to the ecology of the animal. To address this need, this study will test and expand upon the hypothesis that song imitation evolves in concert with breeding neighborhood stability and that song improvisation evolves in concert with breeding neighborhood instability. This hypothesis will be tested using comparative studies of migratory and sedentary species within two genera of blackbirds, Agelaius and Quiscalus. The study will document the song learning behavior for each species using a combination of field studies and aviary-rearing experiments. Field studies will test for song sharing between neighbors and the presence of micro-geographic song dialects, while the aviary studies will look for differences in song learning styles by different species raised under the same conditions.