Long-Term Changes in Songs and Song Dialect Boundaries of Puget Sound White-Crowned Sparrows

Chilton, Glen; Lein, M. Ross

doi:10.2307/1369569

Cited by 38 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 35 publications

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“…Such temporal stability in geographic and acoustic patterns has been found in dialects in a range of songbird species, including white crowned sparrows, Zonotrichia leucophrys (Trainer 1983, Chilton & Lein 1996, Harbison et al 1999, Nelson et al 2004), brown-headed cowbirds, Molothrus ater (Anderson et al 2005), redwings, Turdus iliacus (Bjerke 1980), and black-capped chickadees, Poecile atricapillus (Ficken & Popp 1995, Baker & Gammon 2006), and in some cetaceans including killer whales, Orcinus orca (Deecke 2000, Riesch et al 2006), and sperm whales, Physeter macrocephalus (Rendell & Whitehead 2005). The temporal stability of dialects in this range of species suggests that they are long-term, population-level phenomena that are maintained by one or more evolutionary processes that promote stability.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

“…Within this group, a number of distinct patterns of dialect stability have been observed. In some cases dialects appear to be both geographically and acoustically stable (Trainer 1983, Chilton & Lein 1996, Harbison et al 1999). In other cases acoustic form is more temporally variable, with new call forms being introduced into populations and others being lost (Ince et al 1980, Payne 1996, Baker & Gammon 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

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Stability and change in vocal dialects of the yellow-naped amazon

2008

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Cultural evolution is an important force in creating and maintaining behavioral variation in some species. Vocal dialects have provided a useful model for the study of cultural evolution and its interactions with genetic evolution. This study examined the acoustic and geographic changes in vocal dialects over an eleven-year span in the yellow-naped amazon, Amazona auropalliata, in Costa Rica. Contact calls were recorded at 16 communal night roosts in 1994 and 19 roosts in 2005, with 12 roosts sampled in both surveys. In both surveys three dialects were found, each characterized by a distinctive contact call type and each encompassing multiple roosts. The limits between two of these dialects, the North and South dialects, was found to be geographically stable, while at the boundary between the North and Nicaraguan dialect there was introgression of each call type into roosts in the bordering dialect. Acoustic measurements and cross-correlations of spectrograms detected no change in the acoustic structure of contact calls in the South dialect but did show significant differences in the calls of both the North and Nicaraguan dialect between 1994 and 2005. These results are consistent with the vocal convergence hypothesis that proposes that dialects are long-term features maintained through some combination of biased transmission of local call types and purifying selection against foreign call types. Migration, copying errors and cultural drift may also play a role in the more subtle changes seen in the acoustic form of dialect call types.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 83%

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confidence: 99%

Stability and change in vocal dialects of the yellow-naped amazon

2008

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“…Other longitudinal studies of white-crowned sparrow songs found that dialects in rural areas were relatively stable (Trainer 1983;Chilton & Lein 1996;Harbison et al 1999). Some studies found shifts in dialect boundaries as a result of habitat alteration (Trainer 1983;Baker & Thompson 1985;Chilton & Lein 1996), but none of these studies observed shifts in the minimum frequencies of white-crowned sparrow songs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies found shifts in dialect boundaries as a result of habitat alteration (Trainer 1983;Baker & Thompson 1985;Chilton & Lein 1996), but none of these studies observed shifts in the minimum frequencies of white-crowned sparrow songs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban noise and the cultural evolution of bird songs

2009

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In urban environments, anthropogenic noise can interfere with animal communication. Here we study the influence of urban noise on the cultural evolution of bird songs. We studied three adjacent dialects of white-crowned sparrow songs over a 30-year time span. Urban noise, which is louder at low frequencies, increased during our study period and therefore should have created a selection pressure for songs with higher frequencies. We found that the minimum frequency of songs increased both within and between dialects during the 30-year time span. For example, the dialect with the highest minimum frequency is in the process of replacing another dialect that has lower frequency songs. Songs with the highest minimum frequency were favoured in this environment and should have the most effective transmission properties. We suggest that one mechanism that influences how dialects, and cultural traits in general, are selected and transmitted from one generation to the next is the dialect's ability to be effectively communicated in the local environment.

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“…Patterns of cultural evolution of song have been investigated in White-crowned Sparrows (Chilton and Lein 1996a, Harbison et al 1999, Chilton 2003, Nelson et al 2004 and other species (Lynch et al 1989, Ficken and Popp 1995, Wright et al 2008). These studies have demonstrated collectively that (1) cultural transmission of song can lead to long-term persistence of dialects over decades, (2) dialect boundaries can shift over the same time period, and (3) some song phrases are more labile than others.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Range-wide patterns of geographic variation in songs of Golden-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia atricapilla)

Shizuka

Lein

Chilton

2016

The Auk

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Discrete geographic variation, or dialects, in songs of songbirds arise as a consequence of complex interactions between ecology and song learning. Four of the five species of Zonotrichia sparrows, including the model species White-crowned Sparrow (Z. leucophrys), have been studied with respect to the causes and consequences of geographic variation in song. Within White-crowned Sparrows, subspecies that migrate farther have larger range size of dialects. Here, we assessed geographic patterns of song variation in the fifth species of this genus, the Golden-crowned Sparrow (Z. atricapilla). We analyzed field-recorded songs from 2 sampling periods (1996-1998 and 2006-2013) covering most of its breeding range in western North America. All songs began with a descending whistle and most songs consisted of 3-4 phrases that contained combinations of whistles, buzzes, and trills. We identified 13 discrete song types based on unique sequences of phrase types and frequency changes between phrases. Over 90% of individuals sang 1 of 5 song types, and we found clear dialect structure composed of these 5 common song types. The geographic range of dialects spanned large distances (500 to 1,700 km), resembling the geographic structure of dialects in the long-distance migrant Gambel's White-crowned Sparrow (Z. l. gambelli), though locations of dialect boundaries differ between species. Because both Golden-crowned Sparrows and Gambel's White-crowned Sparrows migrate similarly long distances, our study provides support to the hypothesis that dialect range size correlates with migration distance. We found little evidence of change in dialect composition in 4 populations that were sampled 15 years apart, which suggests that the dialect structure is stable across multiple generations. Our study opens the door for further comparisons to investigate links between ecology and the emergence of song dialects in this well-studied genus.

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Long-Term Changes in Songs and Song Dialect Boundaries of Puget Sound White-Crowned Sparrows

Cited by 38 publications

References 35 publications

Stability and change in vocal dialects of the yellow-naped amazon

Stability and change in vocal dialects of the yellow-naped amazon

Urban noise and the cultural evolution of bird songs

Range-wide patterns of geographic variation in songs of Golden-crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia atricapilla)

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