Kinematics and Mechanisms of Sonation in Birds

该项目将通过研究鸟类如何产生特殊的交流翅膀声音或声音来探索动物的体型和行为如何共同进化。一种来自热带地区的鸟类，Pipridae，发出特别极端和多样的声音。为了更好地了解它们的翅膀是如何发出声音的，将对近12种piprid进行研究。高速视频将用于确定声音制作过程中肢体的运动。对特殊羽毛的实验操作将用于确定如何使用羽毛“乐器”来产生独特的、持续的、和谐的音调。博物馆标本的数字辅助解剖和CT扫描将用于模拟翅膀骨骼和肌肉的形状和大小的变化如何影响翅膀的功能。由于所研究的物种之间的关系是已知的，并且由于这些物种之间存在适当的变异，这些信息将有助于确定导致这种专门的交流系统进化的事件顺序。这项研究的智力价值来自于对一个研究不足的现象产生新的数据，从实地研究对象中产生最先进的运动学数据，为鸟类翅膀功能提供见解，通过宏观进化测试产生可测试的功能假设，并通过检查行为进化和形态进化之间的相互作用来解决Tinbergen的“起源和转化”问题。这项研究的影响将通过培训学生，向拉丁美洲社区介绍这项研究背后的原则，以及制作高质量的视频纪录片以分发给全国的博物馆来实现。

Kinematics and Mechanisms of Sonation in BirdsThis project will explore how body shape and behavior co-evolve in animals, by examining how birds produce special communicative wing- sounds, or sonations. One group of birds from the tropics, the Pipridae, produces particularly extreme and diverse sonations. Nearly a dozen species of piprids will be examined to better understand how their wings produce sound. High-speed video will be used to determine the limb motions used during sound production. Experimental manipulation of specialized feathers will be used to determine how the feather "instruments" are employed to produce a unique sustained, harmonically-toned sound. Digitally-aided dissections and CT scans of museum specimens will be used to model how changes in the shapes and sizes of wing bones and muscles have influenced how the wing functions. Because the relationships among the examined species are known, and because appropriate variation exists among these species, this information will be useful in determining the sequence of events that lead to the evolution of this specialized system of communication.The intellectual merits of this research come from generating new data on a poorly studied phenomenon, generating state-of-the-art kinematic data from field subjects, lending insight to avian wing function, generating functional hypotheses testable by macroevolutionary tests, and addressing Tinbergen's "origin and transformation" question by examining the interplay between the evolution of behavior and morphology. The impacts of this research will be made through training students, introducing Latin American communities to the principles behind this research, and the production of a high-quality video documentary for distribution to museums nationwide.