DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Implications of Production Constraints for the Function of Vocal Performance in Mate Choice

雄鸟鸣叫的一个主要功能是吸引雌鸟作为配偶。然而，并不是所有的歌曲都能达到这个目的。例如，雌性更有可能与发出更长或更多种歌曲的雄性交配，大概是因为雄性这样做的能力与他作为潜在伴侣的某些品质相对应。这个项目研究了一种新的机制，雌性通过歌曲来评估雄性作为潜在的伴侣：雄性发出很难唱的歌曲的能力。当鸟类唱歌时，它们通过张开喙发出高频音和闭合喙发出低频音来发出纯音，这使得它们很难发出既宽又快的颤音。“声乐表演”是指男性应对这一困难的能力，可能反映出男性的品质。这个项目提出要验证这样一种假设，即雌性使用声音表演来选择配偶，因为它反映了雄性的品质，研究雌性能够区分歌曲中这种微妙特征的机制，并测试喙的运动如何影响声音表演的关键预测。该项目的更广泛影响是促进妇女在科学领域的专业发展，向公众传播科学，并提供对保护濒危生境很重要的生物数据。

A primary function of male bird song is to attract females as mates. However, not all songs are equally effective at achieving this goal. For example, females are more likely to mate with males that produce longer songs or more kinds of songs, presumably because a male's ability to do so corresponds to some aspect of his quality as a potential mate. This project investigates a new mechanism by which females use song to assess males as potential mates: the ability of males to produce songs that are hard to sing. When birds sing they produce pure tone sounds by opening their beaks to produce high frequency tones and by closing their beaks to produce low frequency tones making it difficult to produce trilled songs that are both broadband and rapid. "Vocal performance" refers to the ability of males to cope with this difficulty and may reflect male quality. This project proposes to test the hypothesis that females use vocal performance to choose mates because it reflects male quality, to investigate a mechanism by which females are able to discriminate such subtle features of song, and to test a key prediction of how beak movements affect vocal performance. The broader impacts of this project are to foster the professional development of women in science, disseminate science to the public and provide biological data important for conservation of an endangered habitat.