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Yellowhammer dialects and citizen science
Diblíková, Lucie ; Petrusková, Tereza (advisor) ; Linhart, Pavel (referee) ; Osiejuk, Tomasz S. (referee)
Bird dialects, the cultural phenomena that can be linked to migration, gene flow, speciation and cultural evolution, have been studied extensively. The yellowhammer Emberiza citrinella, a common European bird with a simple song and long singing season, has been a model species for studying dialects for decades. In this thesis, I collate several studies that benefited from citizen science approaches to push this field forward. First, we have compiled and unified information on yellowhammer dialect distribution scattered in numerous publications, and unified different dialect nomenclatures used in the past. We supplemented this with data available thanks to volunteers contributing to public databases and other online sources, and demonstrated that the continental distribution patterns of yellowhammer dialects do not support the existence of broad, geographically distinct macrodialect groups as previously believed. In 2011, as part of the Bird of the Year campaign of the Czech Society of Ornithology, we launched a year-long public awareness project "Dialects of Czech Yellowhammers". Its first year's results exceeded expectations in quality and quantity, so a one-year, conservation-focused citizen science project became a long-term, investigative one. In subsequent years, improvements to the web user...
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Application of bioacoustic approaches in investigation of bird species interactions and community species richness
Vokurková, Jana ; Sedláček, Ondřej (advisor) ; Remeš, Vladimír (referee) ; Szymański, Paweł (referee)
Birdsong is one of the most fascinating communication tools in the animal kingdom, whether it is used for attracting a mate or in territory defense. In my dissertation, I present evidence that we can successfully study the role of birdsong in territorial behaviour, its seasonal variability, and ultimately its role in evolutionary processes thanks to modern bioacoustic and ecoacoustic approaches. By combining the bioacoustic approach with molecular analyses, I demonstrate that in the model system of two closely related passerine species, the heterospecific song convergence in their secondary contact zone is based on cultural transmission, and not on interspecific hybridisation and/or gene introgression. My dissertation further extends into the tropical zone, which is generally characterized by less pronounced environmental seasonality compared to the temperate zone. The study of potential seasonality in singing activity and the proportion of vocalizing species in this zone therefore requires year-round monitoring, which is possible thanks to the quite recent development of automated recording units (ARU). First, we confirmed that using ARU provides very similar estimates of community composition, species richness, and abundance to traditional field methods (point counts) in the specific conditions...
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Macroecology and macroevolution of birdsong
Mikula, Peter ; Albrecht, Tomáš (advisor) ; Osiejuk, Tomasz S. (referee) ; Šálek, Miroslav (referee)
Birdsong is one of the most astounding natural sounds which profoundly shaped our evolutionary thinking since the 19th century. Despite a strong interest in birdsong for over 100 years, our understanding of birdsong ecology and evolution over large spatial and phylogenetic scales is still very fragmentary. Answering many basic questions requires a global synthesis covering vast diversity of extant bird species and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches. In presented dissertation thesis, my co-workers and I have explored important patterns in macroecology and macroevolution of song in passerines (Order: Passeriformes), the most diverse and widespread bird order. We have focused on three key song phenomena: (1) song complexity, (2) song frequency and (3) the presence of song in female birds. We have exploited birdsong "big data" available on public citizen science databases and other open sources in order to fill several important gaps in the current knowledge. These data were analysed by a combination of phylogenetically-informed cross-species analyses and spatial macroecological approaches. Since the publication of Darwin's seminal work, elaborated songs are generally agreed to be the result of sexual selection. We developed a simple but reliable song complexity metric to explore a global diversity in...
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Macroecology and macroevolution of birdsong
Mikula, Peter
Birdsong is one of the most astounding natural sounds which profoundly shaped our evolutionary thinking since the 19th century. Despite a strong interest in birdsong for over 100 years, our understanding of birdsong ecology and evolution over large spatial and phylogenetic scales is still very fragmentary. Answering many basic questions requires a global synthesis covering vast diversity of extant bird species and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches. In presented dissertation thesis, my co-workers and I have explored important patterns in macroecology and macroevolution of song in passerines (Order: Passeriformes), the most diverse and widespread bird order. We have focused on three key song phenomena: (1) song complexity, (2) song frequency and (3) the presence of song in female birds. We have exploited birdsong "big data" available on public citizen science databases and other open sources in order to fill several important gaps in the current knowledge. These data were analysed by a combination of phylogenetically-informed cross-species analyses and spatial macroecological approaches. Since the publication of Darwin's seminal work, elaborated songs are generally agreed to be the result of sexual selection. We developed a simple but reliable song complexity metric to explore a global diversity in...
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Macroecology and macroevolution of birdsong
Mikula, Peter
Birdsong is one of the most astounding natural sounds which profoundly shaped our evolutionary thinking since the 19th century. Despite a strong interest in birdsong for over 100 years, our understanding of birdsong ecology and evolution over large spatial and phylogenetic scales is still very fragmentary. Answering many basic questions requires a global synthesis covering vast diversity of extant bird species and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches. In presented dissertation thesis, my co-workers and I have explored important patterns in macroecology and macroevolution of song in passerines (Order: Passeriformes), the most diverse and widespread bird order. We have focused on three key song phenomena: (1) song complexity, (2) song frequency and (3) the presence of song in female birds. We have exploited birdsong "big data" available on public citizen science databases and other open sources in order to fill several important gaps in the current knowledge. These data were analysed by a combination of phylogenetically-informed cross-species analyses and spatial macroecological approaches. Since the publication of Darwin's seminal work, elaborated songs are generally agreed to be the result of sexual selection. We developed a simple but reliable song complexity metric to explore a global diversity in...
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Macroecology and macroevolution of birdsong
Mikula, Peter ; Albrecht, Tomáš (advisor) ; Osiejuk, Tomasz S. (referee) ; Šálek, Miroslav (referee)
Birdsong is one of the most astounding natural sounds which profoundly shaped our evolutionary thinking since the 19th century. Despite a strong interest in birdsong for over 100 years, our understanding of birdsong ecology and evolution over large spatial and phylogenetic scales is still very fragmentary. Answering many basic questions requires a global synthesis covering vast diversity of extant bird species and adoption of multidisciplinary approaches. In presented dissertation thesis, my co-workers and I have explored important patterns in macroecology and macroevolution of song in passerines (Order: Passeriformes), the most diverse and widespread bird order. We have focused on three key song phenomena: (1) song complexity, (2) song frequency and (3) the presence of song in female birds. We have exploited birdsong "big data" available on public citizen science databases and other open sources in order to fill several important gaps in the current knowledge. These data were analysed by a combination of phylogenetically-informed cross-species analyses and spatial macroecological approaches. Since the publication of Darwin's seminal work, elaborated songs are generally agreed to be the result of sexual selection. We developed a simple but reliable song complexity metric to explore a global diversity in...
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Inter-population variability of the bird song
Bílková, Jana ; Petrusková, Tereza (advisor) ; Musilová, Zuzana (referee)
Inter-population variability of the song is widespread phenomenon among birds. Populations of same species from different geographical areas might differ in vocalization. In case of dialects there are even no transitions between particular song forms, but clearly demarcated boundaries. Although the majority of studied cases concerns songbirds, it is possible to find examples in other orders as well. Studies showed that individuals inhabiting forests sing shorter and simpler songs with a lower frequency than their relatives from open landscapes. Changes in temporal and frequency characteristics can also be found in populations living in noisy cities. Different songs, however, are also produced by individuals from populations whose habitats do not show any significant differences. If these groups also differ genetically, then the different variants of song could be caused by heredity, especially in species with innate song. However, this variability may be the consequence instead of the cause of assortative mating, which might be the result of interpopulation variability in some cases. In species where the song is at least partially learned it is more likely that social interactions will play the key role - particularly if females prefer males singing local dialect or if sharing the song with neighbors...
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The impact of noise and light pollution on voice activity of Chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita)
Žilinčíková, Nikola ; Hodačová, Lenka (advisor) ; Kočicová, Pavlína (referee)
The continuing growth of the worldss population causes increase of anthropogenic influence on environment. In this mechanized times the often observed factors with influence on (not only) birds populations, are light and noise. These factors of environment can have negative impact on birds song and behavior related to it. Vocal expression is essential for communication of bird species and is necessary for their life processes. The birds are therefore, under the influence of stressors, forced to adapt themselves to newly emerging environment. This work investigates the influence of light and noise pollution on vocalization of chiffchaff (Phylloscopus collybita) during the morning and evening hours. The obtained data came from 4 types of locality (light-polluted, noise-polluted, light-noise polluted and without pollution) where the factors were represented predominantly by the noise of traffic and by artificial night lighting. Localities with presence of chiffchaff were selected and voice recorder was then placed into his territory. The obtained records of his voice were subsequently analyzed. The recording was done since April until May 2015, solely during the good weather conditions (without storms and strong wind). A development and intensity of the birds song were compared. The spotted result was a shift of chiffchaff´s morning vocalization initiation under the influence of light and noise pollution and increased intensity of birds song in the morning hours, in the locality affected by light and also in the noisy locality during the sunset.
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