Animal communication networks: social, environmental, and anthropogenic drivers of behaviour

沟通在调节动物的社会和交配行为中起着至关重要的作用。我们对鸟类声音交流的生态学和进化的理解大多来自于对鸣禽白天鸣叫行为的研究。然而，昼夜活跃的物种经常在每天太阳升起之前激烈地唱歌，这是一种令人印象深刻的表演，被称为黎明合唱。一些白天唱歌的物种也在晚上唱歌。影响黎明合唱和夜间歌唱的社会（例如领土边界，邻居的相对质量）和环境（例如天气，环境光）因素尚未得到很好的理解。然而，这两种显示可能发挥至少同样重要的作用，因为白天的信号在确定健身。我和我的学生将要进行的研究旨在验证鸟类为什么在这些环境中唱歌的假设。我们使用相结合的观察和实验的方法和多假设检验，以评估三种鸣禽的声音显示的影响因素：黑顶山雀，白喉麻雀，和烤箱鸟。我们专注于语音信号在通信网络的背景下（其中多个信号发送器和接收器同时交换信息）。为此，我们使用强大的新录音和歌曲播放技术来记录领土持有者的网络，这样可以同时考虑影响显示的社会环境和非生物因素。通过以这种方式分析发声行为，我们可以为动物交流提供新的见解，并研究网络的涌现特性。除了了解这些发声器在自然条件下的功能，我还提出了实验来测试发声器如何受到光线和噪音的影响。人们越来越认识到，人为的噪音和光线会改变野生动物种群的行为和适应性。然而，许多研究都被这些特征在景观中的共存模式或它们对领土持有者定居模式的影响所混淆。我提出的实验将涉及操纵噪音和光线水平独立和一起使用滑雪道，否则不受干扰的自然人口。与黎明和夜间歌曲的观察和实验研究一起，实验操作将提供对动物在景观中面临的日益增加的人为压力的生态影响的深入了解。了解动物如何交流以及不同的展示如何影响自然系统中的适应性至关重要。此外，深入了解改变系统如何影响动物的行为和生态，可以为长期的保护和减轻损害战略提供信息。

Communication plays a vital role in mediating the social and mating behaviour of animals. Most of our understanding of the ecology and evolution of vocal communication in birds comes from studies of daytime singing behaviour of songbirds. However, species that are diurnally active often sing intensely just before the sun rises each day in an impressive display known as the dawn chorus. A number of daytime singing species also sing at night. The social (e.g. territory boundaries, relative quality of neighbours) and environmental (e.g. weather, ambient light) factors influencing both the dawn chorus and nocturnal singing are not well understood. However, both displays likely play at least equally important roles as daytime signalling does in determining fitness. The studies that my students and I will conduct are designed to test hypotheses for why birds sing in these contexts. We use a combined observational and experimental approach and multiple hypotheses testing to assess the factors influencing vocal displays in three songbird species: black-capped chickadees, white-throated sparrows, and ovenbirds. We focus on vocal signalling in the context of communication networks (where multiple signallers and receivers exchanging information simultaneously). To do so, we use powerful new recording and song playback techniques to record networks of territory holders, such that the social environment and the abiotic factors that influence displays can be considered in concert. By analyzing vocal behaviours in this way, we can provide new insights into animal communication and study emergent properties of networks. In addition to understanding how these vocal displays function in natural conditions, I propose experiments to test how vocal displays are influenced by light and noise. Anthropogenic noise and light are increasingly understood to alter behaviour and fitness of wild-animal populations. However, many studies are confounded by the co-occurrence patterns of these features in the landscape or their influence on settlement patterns of territory holders. The experiments I propose will involve manipulating noise and light levels independently and together using a ski-trail in an otherwise undisturbed natural population. Together with the observational and experimental studies of dawn and nocturnal song, the experimental manipulation will provide insight into ecological effects of the increasing anthropogenic pressures animals face in the landscape. It is imperative to understand how animals communicate and how different displays influence fitness in natural systems. In addition, insights into how altering the system can influence behaviour and ecology of animals can inform conservation and damage mitigation strategies in the longer term.