|
|
Evolutionary importance of mixed singing in two species of nightingales
Kohoutová, Hana ; Reifová, Radka (advisor) ; Sedláček, Ondřej (referee)
Singing is important for communication in birds. Some species of birds copy singing from other species. This heterospecific copying of singing is common especially in closely related bird species, and is usually called mixed singing in such cases. Mixed singing is often asymmetric, when only one species of the pair copies a song of the congener. The meaning of mixed singing is not well explained yet. The most common mechanism is probably an error during the learning phase of singing, but in some cases mixed singing can be adaptive. In my master's thesis I deal with the evolutionary meaning of mixed singing in two closely related passerine species - Common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) and Thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia). These species co-occur in secondary contact zone in central and eastern part of Europe. Only Thrush nightingale which is larger and probably a more dominant species, exhibits mixed singing. In playback experiments in Common nightingale I studied a possible adaptive meaning of mixed singing in relation to interspecific communication. I tested the differences in behavioural and vocal response of Common nightingales to three types of stimuli: pure singing of Common nightingale, pure singing of Thrush nightingale and mixed singing of Thrush nightingale. The tested males...
|
|
|
Evolutionary importance of mixed singing in two species of nightingales
Kohoutová, Hana ; Reifová, Radka (advisor) ; Sedláček, Ondřej (referee)
Singing is important for communication in birds. Some species of birds copy singing from other species. This heterospecific copying of singing is common especially in closely related bird species, and is usually called mixed singing in such cases. Mixed singing is often asymmetric, when only one species of the pair copies a song of the congener. The meaning of mixed singing is not well explained yet. The most common mechanism is probably an error during the learning phase of singing, but in some cases mixed singing can be adaptive. In my master's thesis I deal with the evolutionary meaning of mixed singing in two closely related passerine species - Common nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) and Thrush nightingale (Luscinia luscinia). These species co-occur in secondary contact zone in central and eastern part of Europe. Only Thrush nightingale which is larger and probably a more dominant species, exhibits mixed singing. In playback experiments in Common nightingale I studied a possible adaptive meaning of mixed singing in relation to interspecific communication. I tested the differences in behavioural and vocal response of Common nightingales to three types of stimuli: pure singing of Common nightingale, pure singing of Thrush nightingale and mixed singing of Thrush nightingale. The tested males...
|
|
| |
|
| |
guest ::
