3
|
Doolittle EL. "Hearken to the Hermit-Thrush": A Case Study in Interdisciplinary Listening. Front Psychol 2020; 11:613510. [PMID: 33362674 PMCID: PMC7756056 DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2020.613510] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2020] [Accepted: 11/16/2020] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Birdsong is widely analysed and discussed by people coming from both musical and scientific backgrounds. Both approaches provide valuable insight, but I argue that it is only through combining musical and scientific points of view, as well as perspectives from more tangentially related fields, that we can obtain the best possible understanding of birdsong. In this paper, I discuss how my own training as a musician, and in particular as a composer, affects how I listen to and parse birdsong. I identify nine areas of overlap between human music and birdsong, which may serve as starting points both for musical and scientific analysis, as well as for interdisciplinary analysis as practiced in the developing field of "zoomusicology." Using the hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) as an example, I discuss how the song of a single species has been described by writers from a variety of disciplines, including music, literature, and the sciences, as well as how we can contextualise these varied perspectives in terms of broader cultural thought trends. I end with discussion of how combining approaches from multiple fields can help us to figure out new questions to ask, can help us identify how our own cultural biases may affect how we hear birdsong, and ultimately can help us develop richer and more nuanced understandings of the songs themselves.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Emily L Doolittle
- Department of Research and Knowledge Exchange, Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| |
Collapse
|
4
|
Zsebők S, Herczeg G, Laczi M, Nagy G, Vaskuti É, Hargitai R, Hegyi G, Herényi M, Markó G, Rosivall B, Szász E, Szöllősi E, Török J, Garamszegi LZ. Sequential organization of birdsong: relationships with individual quality and fitness. Behav Ecol 2020; 32:82-93. [PMID: 33708006 PMCID: PMC7937035 DOI: 10.1093/beheco/araa104] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/05/2020] [Revised: 09/15/2020] [Accepted: 09/21/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Many vocalizing animals produce the discrete elements of their acoustic signals in a specific sequential order, but we know little about the biological relevance of this ordering. For that, we must characterize the degree by which individuals differ in how they organize their signals sequentially and relate these differences to variation in quality and fitness. In this study, we fulfilled these tasks in male collared flycatchers (Ficedula albicollis). We characterized the sequential order of syllables with a network analysis approach and studied the consistency of network variables on distinct time scales (within day, between days, and between years), and assessed their relationship with such quality indicators like age, body condition, arrival date, and fitness related proxies like survival to the next year and pairing success. We found that the syllables were associated nonrandomly with one another and both the frequency differences of consecutive syllables and the number of motif types were higher in the original than in randomized syllable sequences. Average degree and small-worldness showed considerable among-individual differences and decreasing repeatability with increasing time scale. Furthermore, we found relationships between male age and average degree among and within individuals. Accordingly, older males produce syllable sequences by using common syllables less often than younger individuals. However, the network variables showed no relationship with fitness-related variables. In conclusion, the sequential organization of birdsong has the potential to encode individual-specific characteristics, which thus could be used as signal in social interactions and thus potentially could be subject to sexual selection.
Collapse
Affiliation(s)
- Sándor Zsebők
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.,Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Alkotmány u. 2-4, Vácrátót, Hungary
| | - Gábor Herczeg
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Miklós Laczi
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.,The Barn Owl Foundation, Temesvári út 8., Orosztony, Hungary
| | - Gergely Nagy
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.,Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Alkotmány u. 2-4, Vácrátót, Hungary
| | - Éva Vaskuti
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.,Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Alkotmány u. 2-4, Vácrátót, Hungary
| | - Rita Hargitai
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Gergely Hegyi
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Márton Herényi
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.,Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology, Szent István University, Páter Károly u. 1.,Gödöllő, Hungary
| | - Gábor Markó
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.,Department of Plant Pathology, Szent István University, Villányi út 29-43, HBudapest, Hungary
| | - Balázs Rosivall
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Eszter Szász
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| | - Eszter Szöllősi
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| | - János Török
- Behavioural Ecology Group, Department of Systematic Zoology and Ecology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary.,Ecology Research Group of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C,, Budapest, Hungary
| | - László Zsolt Garamszegi
- Centre for Ecological Research, Institute of Ecology and Botany, Alkotmány u. 2-4, Vácrátót, Hungary.,Theoretical Biology and Evolutionary Ecology Research Group, Department of Plant Systematics, Ecology and Theoretical Biology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Pázmány Péter sétány 1/C, Budapest, Hungary
| |
Collapse
|
5
|
Taylor CE, Brumley JT, Hedley RW, Cody ML. Sensitivity of California Thrashers (Toxostoma redivivum) to song syntax. BIOACOUSTICS 2017. [DOI: 10.1080/09524622.2016.1274917] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/20/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Charles E. Taylor
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - John T. Brumley
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
- Institute of Engineering Mechanics and Systems, University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan
| | - Richard W. Hedley
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Martin L. Cody
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| |
Collapse
|
7
|
Overtone-based pitch selection in hermit thrush song: unexpected convergence with scale construction in human music. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2014; 111:16616-21. [PMID: 25368163 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1406023111] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Many human musical scales, including the diatonic major scale prevalent in Western music, are built partially or entirely from intervals (ratios between adjacent frequencies) corresponding to small-integer proportions drawn from the harmonic series. Scientists have long debated the extent to which principles of scale generation in human music are biologically or culturally determined. Data from animal "song" may provide new insights into this discussion. Here, by examining pitch relationships using both a simple linear regression model and a Bayesian generative model, we show that most songs of the hermit thrush (Catharus guttatus) favor simple frequency ratios derived from the harmonic (or overtone) series. Furthermore, we show that this frequency selection results not from physical constraints governing peripheral production mechanisms but from active selection at a central level. These data provide the most rigorous empirical evidence to date of a bird song that makes use of the same mathematical principles that underlie Western and many non-Western musical scales, demonstrating surprising convergence between human and animal "song cultures." Although there is no evidence that the songs of most bird species follow the overtone series, our findings add to a small but growing body of research showing that a preference for small-integer frequency ratios is not unique to humans. These findings thus have important implications for current debates about the origins of human musical systems and may call for a reevaluation of existing theories of musical consonance based on specific human vocal characteristics.
Collapse
|