Vocal communication in birds: functions and roles of songs | Les communications acoustiques chez les oiseaux. Roles et fonctions des chants
1999
Keulen, C. (Universite de Liege (Belgium). Institut de zoologie)
During the late 1950s, advancing technology allowed progress in the study of bird vocalizations. Several topics were handled about the syrinx structure and song learning mechanisms but the present approach emphasizes many examples about species recognition and variations in bird song. Some classical topics, in several species, are reviewed to show the rules which are used in species recognition. The design and evolution of vocal communication is limited by certain constraints. These constraints are physical (vocalizations structure depends on the structure of the syrinx and on the bird's weight), ecological (the sound seems adapted to the best propagation in the bird's environment) or behavioural... Then we emphasized the studies about the functions of bird songs. The chosen examples show that it is not easy to distinguish territorial contexts from sexual attraction; territoriality and breeding behaviour are indeed often bonded. Individual recognition by song in Oscines or other species is discussed and attempts are made to understand geographic variations. Following some authors these are the results of a cultural transmission of bird song characteristics; for the others it is only geographical variations that occur over long distances. More research is needed before the full significance of dialects is understood, especially genetic studies.
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