Song type and song type matching are important for joint territorial defense in a duetting songbird

Sex-specific developmental gene expression atlas unveils dimorphic gene networks in C. elegans

Sex-specific traits and behaviors emerge during development by the acquisition of unique properties in the nervous system of each sex. However, the genetic events responsible for introducing these sex-specific features remain poorly understood. In this study, we create a comprehensive gene expression atlas of pure populations of hermaphrodites and males of the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans across development. We discover numerous differentially expressed genes, including neuronal gene families like transcription factors, neuropeptides, and G protein-coupled receptors. We identify INS-39, an insulin-like peptide, as a prominent male-biased gene expressed specifically in ciliated sensory neurons. We show that INS-39 serves as an early-stage male marker, facilitating the effective isolation of males in high-throughput experiments. Through complex and sex-specific regulation, ins-39 plays pleiotropic sexually dimorphic roles in various behaviors, while also playing a shared, dimorphic role in early life stress. This study offers a comparative sexual and developmental gene expression database for C. elegans. Furthermore, it highlights conserved genes that may underlie the sexually dimorphic manifestation of different human diseases.

Who you live with and what you duet for: a review of the function of primate duets in relation to their social organization

Duets are one of the most fascinating displays in animal vocal communication, where two animals fine-tune the timing of their emissions to create a coordinated signal. Duetting behavior is widespread in the animal kingdom and is present in insects, birds, and mammals. Duets are essential to regulate activities within and between social units. Few studies assessed the functions of these vocal emissions experimentally, and for many species, there is still no consensus on what duets are used for. Here, we reviewed the literature on the function of duets in non-human primates, investigating a possible link between the social organization of the species and the function of its duetting behavior. In primates and birds, social conditions characterized by higher promiscuity might relate to the emergence of duetting behavior. We considered both quantitative and qualitative studies, which led us to hypothesize that the shift in the social organization from pair living to a mixed social organization might have led to the emergence of mate defense and mate guarding as critical functions of duetting behavior. Territory/resource ownership and defense functions are more critical in obligate pair-living species. Finally, we encourage future experimental research on this topic to allow the formulation of empirically testable predictions.

The origins and function of musical performance

Music is widely recognised as a human universal, yet there is no agreed explanation for its function, or why and when it evolved. I summarise experimental evidence that the primary function of musicking lies in social bonding, both at the dyadic and community levels, via the effect that performing any form of music has on the brain's endorphin system (the principal neurohormonal basis for social bonding in primates). The many other functions associated with music-making (mate choice, pleasure, coalition signalling, etc) are all better understood as derivative of this, either as secondary selection pressures or as windows of evolutionary opportunity (exaptations). If music's function is primarily as an adjunct of the social bonding mechanism (a feature it shares with laughter, feasting, storytelling and the rituals of religion), then reverse engineering the problem suggests that the capacity for music-making most likely evolved with the appearance of archaic humans. This agrees well with anatomical evidence for the capacity to sing.

Male and female songs propagation in a duetting tropical bird species in its preferred and secondary habitat

Acoustic signals produced by animals must transmit through the environment to reach potential receivers and change their behaviour. Both the environment (vegetation, air properties, other animals) and the form of the signal affect the propagation process. Here we investigated how the transmission of different song types of a duetting songbird species inhabiting an extreme environment within African montane forest, varies between males and females as well as different types of micro-habitats. We hypothesised that male and female songs would have different transmission properties, reflecting known differences in signal form and function. We analysed signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), excess attenuation (EA) and tail-to-signal ratio (TSR) of songs of male and female Yellow-breasted Boubous (Laniarius atroflavus) that were played and re-recorded in a range of sites representing the species-typical habitats. We found significant effects of distance, site (habitat) and sex reflected in all three measures of sound degradation. The clearest, primarily distance-dependent pattern was found for SNR of songs propagated in level forest site. EA was substantially higher in shrubs than in forest habitats, while TSR reflecting longer echoes appeared at longer distances in forest sites. Thus, Yellow-breasted Boubou songs are better propagated in forests than in disturbed sites covered with shrubs. We found that all male song types used for broadcast singing propagated farther than female songs, with significantly higher SNR at all distances. The different male song types which are known to have different functions, also demonstrated a differentiated pattern of propagation reflecting their functionality. All signals that were tested propagated the furthest in the ideal condition described as forest with a level terrain. Signals degraded much faster during transmission through shrubs regrowing after forest burning. On this site, the differences in the propagation of male and female songs, as well as the differences between male song types, were relatively least pronounced. Transmission in typical mountain forest among streams and with substantial terrain variation revealed that degradation pattern in such habitat could be perturbed in a non-linear way. Streams acting as a source of high noise level also negatively affected transmission and may strongly limit the perception of birds staying close to them. However, stream noise did not affect sex differences in song propagation as was found for the site located in shrubs. Male songs showed more efficient transmission through all habitats (least in the shrubs) than female song. These differences were the result of male songs having a whistle structure that is better adapted for long-range propagation than the atonal, wideband frequency female vocalisations. Results support the idea that signals of males of the Yellow-breasted Boubous evolved under the pressure of long-range communication both with rivals and females, while females of the species are much more focused on within-pair communication or signalling together with their partner. The consequence of deforestation resulting in pushing back territories to the forest remnants along streams may be a shortening of the song’s active range, in particular, in females.