Vocal learning and cultural evolution in temperate and tropical animals

在地球上的八种动物中，包括人类和鸣禽，幼年动物通过倾听成年动物来学习交流。声音学习对行为生态学有重要影响-例如，学会发声对于捍卫领土和吸引配偶至关重要-以及进化生物学-例如，学习促进地理变异，从而影响种群分化和物种形成。鸟类为研究声音学习提供了一个出色的模型系统，因为它们产生不同的声音信号，因为它们的生成时间短，因为它们对实验回放的反应强烈，使得操纵学习过程成为可能。而传统的研究集中在学习男性，温带动物，和圈养的个人，我建议高度创新的研究，男性和女性的发声，对温带和热带动物，野生动物在其自然环境中。我将和一个由学生和博士后组成的团队一起对两个模型系统进行研究：一个是温带麻雀种群，那里异常高的回报率使我们能够跟踪鸟类从出生到成年的过程;另一个是热带弗伦斯种群，那里两性都唱独唱和协调的二重唱。我们将教歌曲幼鸟使用定制设计的扬声器阵列，模拟导师从事现实的声乐互动。在本次调查的第一部分，我们将实验性地研究有关声乐学习的新观点。我们将测试的假设，年轻的动物优先学习的歌曲无意中听到的互动，而不是独奏广播;动物的早期声学环境和繁殖前的社会环境修改声乐学习;年轻的动物优先学习高性能的歌曲，难以执行;和热带鸟类学习执行二重唱听成年人。在B部分，我们将进行纵向分析，研究热带弗伦斯的发声学习。我们将测试假设，热带鸟类表现出性别特异性的声音谱系，热带鸟类学会联合收割机从他们的复杂的声乐曲目以下的“二重唱代码”的特定歌曲。在C部分，我们将研究温带和热带鸟类的文化进化，记录时间和空间的声学变化模式，以更好地理解模仿，创新，选择和漂移。独特的是，我们将通过量化我们使用模拟声乐导师介绍的歌曲的演变来测试和完善文化演变的理论模型。这项研究将为动物的行为、生态学和进化生物学提供开创性的见解，并回答有关声乐学习和文化进化的新问题。这项研究将使我能够培养许多年轻的加拿大科学家，并开发研究野生动物的创新技术。

In eight groups of animals on Earth, including humans and songbirds, juveniles learn to communicate by listening to adults. Vocal learning has important consequences for behavioural ecology - for example, learned vocalizations are critical for defending territories and attracting mates - and for evolutionary biology - for example, learning promotes geographic variation and thereby influences population divergence and speciation. Birds provide an outstanding model system for studying vocal learning because they produce diverse vocal signals, because they have short generation times, and because they respond strongly to experimental playback, making it possible to manipulate the learning process. Whereas traditional studies have focused on learning in males, temperate animals, and captive individuals, I propose highly innovative studies on both male and female vocalizations, on both temperate and tropical animals, and on wild animals in their natural environment. With a team of students and postdocs, I will conduct research on two model systems: a population of temperate sparrows where an unusually high return-rate allows us to track birds from birth to adulthood; and a population of tropical wrens where both sexes sing solo songs and coordinated vocal duets. We will teach songs to young birds using arrays of custom-designed loudspeakers that simulate tutors engaged in realistic vocal interactions. In part A of this investigation, we will experimentally investigate new ideas about vocal learning. We will test hypotheses that young animals preferentially learn songs overheard during interactions rather than solo broadcasts; that both an animal's early acoustic environment and their pre-breeding social environment modifies vocal learning; that young animals preferentially learn high performance songs that are difficult to perform; and that tropical birds learn to perform duets by listening to adults. In part B, we will conduct longitudinal analyses to study vocal learning in tropical wrens. We will test hypotheses that tropical birds exhibit sex-specific vocal lineages, and that tropical birds learn to combine particular songs from their complex vocal repertoires by following "duet codes". In part C, we will study cultural evolution in both temperate and tropical birds, documenting patterns of acoustic changes through time and space to better understand imitation, innovation, selection, and drift. Uniquely, we will test and refine theoretical models of cultural evolution by quantifying the evolution of songs we introduce using simulated vocal tutors. This body of research will provide groundbreaking insight into the behaviour, ecology, and evolutionary biology of animals, and answer novel questions about vocal learning and cultural evolution. This research will allow me to train many young Canadian scientists, and develop innovative technologies for studying wild animals.**