Song divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds.

Visual signals are shaped by variation in the signaling environment through a process termed sensory drive, sometimes leading to speciation. However, the evidence for sensory drive in acoustic signals is restricted to comparisons between highly dissimilar habitats, or single-species studies in which...

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Main Authors: Tobias, J, Aben, J, Brumfield, RT, Derryberry, E, Halfwerk, W, Slabbekoorn, H, Seddon, N
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: 2010
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author Tobias, J
Aben, J
Brumfield, RT
Derryberry, E
Halfwerk, W
Slabbekoorn, H
Seddon, N
author_facet Tobias, J
Aben, J
Brumfield, RT
Derryberry, E
Halfwerk, W
Slabbekoorn, H
Seddon, N
author_sort Tobias, J
collection OXFORD
description Visual signals are shaped by variation in the signaling environment through a process termed sensory drive, sometimes leading to speciation. However, the evidence for sensory drive in acoustic signals is restricted to comparisons between highly dissimilar habitats, or single-species studies in which it is difficult to rule out the influence of undetected ecological variables, pleiotropic effects, or chance. Here we assess whether this form of sensory drive-often termed "acoustic adaptation"-can generate signal divergence across ecological gradients. By studying avian communities in two Amazonian forest types, we show that songs of 17 "bamboo-specialist" bird species differ in predictable ways from their nearest relatives in adjacent terra firme forest. We also demonstrate that the direction of song divergence is correlated with the sound transmission properties of habitats, rather than with genetic divergence, ambient noise, or pleiotropic effects of mass and bill size. Our findings indicate that acoustic adaptation adds significantly to stochastic processes underlying song divergence, even when comparing between habitats with relatively similar structure. Furthermore, given that song differences potentially contribute to reproductive isolation, these findings are consistent with a wider role for sensory drive in the diversification of lineages with acoustic mating signals.
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spelling oxford-uuid:4f398ad5-66dc-4389-961f-7120f870d3452022-03-26T16:05:55ZSong divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds.Journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:4f398ad5-66dc-4389-961f-7120f870d345EnglishSymplectic Elements at Oxford2010Tobias, JAben, JBrumfield, RTDerryberry, EHalfwerk, WSlabbekoorn, HSeddon, NVisual signals are shaped by variation in the signaling environment through a process termed sensory drive, sometimes leading to speciation. However, the evidence for sensory drive in acoustic signals is restricted to comparisons between highly dissimilar habitats, or single-species studies in which it is difficult to rule out the influence of undetected ecological variables, pleiotropic effects, or chance. Here we assess whether this form of sensory drive-often termed "acoustic adaptation"-can generate signal divergence across ecological gradients. By studying avian communities in two Amazonian forest types, we show that songs of 17 "bamboo-specialist" bird species differ in predictable ways from their nearest relatives in adjacent terra firme forest. We also demonstrate that the direction of song divergence is correlated with the sound transmission properties of habitats, rather than with genetic divergence, ambient noise, or pleiotropic effects of mass and bill size. Our findings indicate that acoustic adaptation adds significantly to stochastic processes underlying song divergence, even when comparing between habitats with relatively similar structure. Furthermore, given that song differences potentially contribute to reproductive isolation, these findings are consistent with a wider role for sensory drive in the diversification of lineages with acoustic mating signals.
spellingShingle Tobias, J
Aben, J
Brumfield, RT
Derryberry, E
Halfwerk, W
Slabbekoorn, H
Seddon, N
Song divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds.
title Song divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds.
title_full Song divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds.
title_fullStr Song divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds.
title_full_unstemmed Song divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds.
title_short Song divergence by sensory drive in Amazonian birds.
title_sort song divergence by sensory drive in amazonian birds
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