Vocal learning, communication, and the evolution of culture in wild animals

在包括人类和鸣禽在内的八类动物中，发声是通过社会学习来遗传的，在这些动物中，幼小的动物通过倾听成年人的声音来学习发声。这些文化遗传特征对动物的生存和交配起着至关重要的作用。文化遗传特征对生态学有重要影响：习得的发声对于保卫领地和吸引配偶至关重要。它们对进化也有重要影响：学习促进了地理变异，影响了种群分化和物种形成。鸟类为研究发声学习和动物文化提供了一个模型系统，因为它们产生不同的声音信号，它们的世代时间很短，并且它们对实验回放做出反应。传统的研究侧重于雄性、温带动物和圈养个体的学习。打破传统，我的研究包括研究雄性和雌性、温带和热带动物以及野生动物在自然环境中的交流。我将与一组学生和博士后研究人员一起，对两个模型系统进行研究：一组是温带麻雀，雄性用歌声保卫领地并吸引配偶；另一组是热带莺，在不同的背景下，两性都使用独唱和协调的二重唱。我们将使用模拟声乐导师的扬声器向幼鸟传唱，我们将进行长期的声学监测，以评估生态和进化的后果。这将使我们能够在男性和女性以及在温带和热带环境中测试关于发声学习和动物文化的新假设。在研究温带鸟类的A部分中，我们将检验以下假设：物理导师的存在有助于学习，幼小动物根据暴露的频率学习歌曲，导师和被辅导者之间的互动影响学习，以及鸟类在选择歌曲导师时经历了一个选择性的自然流失过程。在B部分，研究热带鸟类的二重奏，我们将检验这样的假设，即热带动物的学习具有性别特异性，二重唱有助于发声学习，鸟类不仅学习发声，还学习二重唱行为。在C部分，我们将通过记录声音在时间和空间上的变化模式来研究温带和热带鸟类的文化进化，从而更好地理解模仿、创新、选择和漂移的作用。在D-H部分，我们将研究其他类群中的动物交流，包括其他鸣禽、青蛙和鲸鱼，扩大我们的调查范围。这项研究将为动物的行为、生态和进化提供开创性的见解，并回答关于发声学习和动物文化的新问题。这项研究还将使我能够培训许多不同的加拿大科学家，并开发研究野生动物的创新技术。

In eight groups of animals, including humans and songbirds, vocalizations are inherited through social learning, where young animals learn to vocalize by listening to adults. These culturally inherited traits play a vital role in animal survival and mating. Culturally-inherited traits have important consequences for ecology: learned vocalizations are critical for defending territories and attracting mates. They also have important consequences for evolution: learning promotes geographic variation and influences population divergence and speciation. Birds provide a model system for studying vocal learning and animal culture because they produce diverse vocal signals, they have short generation times, and they respond to experimental playback. Traditional studies have focused on learning in males, temperate animals, and captive individuals. Breaking with tradition, my research involves studies of communication in both males and females, in both temperate and tropical animals, and in wild animals in their natural environment. With a team of students and postdoctoral researchers, I will conduct research on two model systems: a population of temperate sparrows where males use songs to defend territories and attract mates; and a population of tropical wrens where both sexes use solo songs and coordinated vocal duets in diverse contexts. We will teach songs to young birds using loudspeakers that simulate vocal tutors and we will conduct long-term acoustic monitoring to assess the ecological and evolutionary consequences. This will allow us to test new hypotheses about vocal learning and animal culture in both males and females, and in both temperate and tropical environments. In part A, studying temperate birds, we will test the hypotheses that the presence of a physical tutor enhances learning, that young animals learn songs based on frequency of exposure, that interactions between tutors and tutees influences learning, and that birds undergo a process of selective attrition in choosing song tutors. In part B, studying duetting tropical birds, we will test hypotheses that learning is sex-specific in tropical animals, that duets facilitate vocal learning, and that birds learn not only their vocalizations but also their duetting behaviour. In part C, we will study cultural evolution in both temperate and tropical birds by documenting patterns of acoustic changes through time and space, thereby developing a better understanding of the roles of imitation, innovation, selection, and drift. In parts D-H we will study animal communication in other taxa, including other songbirds, frogs, and whales, expanding the scope of our investigations. This body of research will provide groundbreaking insights into the behaviour, ecology, and evolution of animals, and answer novel questions about vocal learning and animal culture. This research will also allow me to train many diverse Canadian scientists, and develop innovative technologies for studying wild animals.