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Myers BM, Rankin DT, Burns KJ, Brelsford A, Clark CJ. k-mer analysis shows hybrid hummingbirds perform variable, transgressive courtship sequences. Anim Behav 2022. [DOI: 10.1016/j.anbehav.2022.01.018] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/17/2022]
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2
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Molecular phylogenetics of Doraditos (Aves,
Pseudocolopteryx
): Evolution of cryptic species, vocal and mechanical sounds. ZOOL SCR 2020. [DOI: 10.1111/zsc.12467] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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3
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Gómez-Bahamón V, Tuero DT, Castaño MI, Jahn AE, Bates JM, Clark CJ. Sonations in Migratory and Non-migratory Fork-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus savana). Integr Comp Biol 2020; 60:1147-1159. [DOI: 10.1093/icb/icaa115] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Synopsis
Sonations are sounds that animals produce with structures other than the vocal apparatus for communication. In birds, many sonations are usually produced with modified flight feathers through diverse kinematic mechanisms. For instance, aeroelastic fluttering of feathers produces tonal sound when airflow exceeds a threshold velocity and induces flight feathers to oscillate at a constant frequency. The Fork-tailed flycatcher (Tyrannus savana) is a Neotropical bird with both migratory and year-round resident subspecies that differ in the shape of the outer primary feathers of their wings. By integrating behavioral observations, audio recordings, and high-speed videos, we find that male Fork-tailed flycatchers produce sonations with their outer primary feathers P8-10, and possibly P7. These sounds are produced during different behavioral contexts including: the pre-dawn display, intraspecific territorial disputes, when attacking potential nest predators, and when escaping. By placing feathers in a wind tunnel, we elicited flutter at frequencies that matched the acoustic signature of sounds recorded in the wild, indicating that the kinematic mechanism responsible for sound production is aeroelastic flutter. Video of wild birds indicated that sonations were produced during the downstroke. Finally, the feathers of migratory (T.s.savana) and year-round resident (T.s.monachus) Fork-tailed flycatchers flutter in feather locations that differ in shape between the subspecies, and these shape differences between the subspecies result in sounds produced at different frequencies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Valentina Gómez-Bahamón
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor Street (MC066), Chicago, IL 60607, USA
- SELVA: Investigación para la Conservación en el Neotrópico, Diagonal 42a No 20-37, Bogotá, Colombia
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
| | - Diego T Tuero
- Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución, Instituto IEGEBA (CONICET-UBA), Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Intendente Güiraldes, Ciudad Universitaria- C1428EGA, Buenos Aires, 2160, Argentina
| | - María Isabel Castaño
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, 845 West Taylor Street (MC066), Chicago, IL 60607, USA
| | - Alex E Jahn
- Departamento de Zoologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Avenida 24a, no. 1515, Rio Claro, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - John M Bates
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, 1400 South Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL 60605, USA
| | - Christopher J Clark
- Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
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4
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Jordan EA, Areta JI. Bisonic Mechanical Wing Songs and Complex Kinematics in Aerial Displays of the Subtropical Doradito (Pseudocolopteryx acutipennis). Integr Comp Biol 2020; 60:1173-1187. [DOI: 10.1093/icb/icaa062] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Synopsis
Loud mechanical sounds with a communication role are called sonations. Male Subtropical Doraditos (Pseudocolopteryx acutipennis) exhibit five conspicuously modified primaries suspected of sonating. Here we (1) describe feather modifications, (2) describe three different territorial/aggressive contexts for these sounds: one-perch aerial displays (1PADs), two-PADs, and Chukrut pursuits, (3) investigate the kinematics of the most common display (1PADs) and the physical mechanisms of sonation using synchronized high-speed video and audio, and (4) assess the roles of modified wing feathers in all contexts by experimental manipulation in four individuals. Primaries p3–p7 were modified in adult males but not in females: p3 was pointed with a reduced distal third to the outer vane; p4 and p5 were slim and falciform with pointed tips curved outwards; p6 was broad, massive, and subtly S-shaped, with a spatulate tip; and p7 was large with the distal third of the outer vane abruptly reduced, and the inner vane with a shallow concave sub-apical emargination. One-PADs consisted of perched short nasal introductory syllables accelerating until the bird performed a super-rapid circular flight of ∽15 cm in diameter from and to the same branch, during which two syringeal syllables and three mechanical syllables were given (chik… chik…. chik-chik frrrottt). The syllables were produced during rapid downstrokes by fluttering feathers and were bisonic, being conformed by two simultaneous main tonal, flat, narrow band sounds: a low-pitched note (f0 ∽1 kHz) and a high-pitched note (f0 ∽3.7 kHz). Primary p7 is the necessary and sufficient sound source of the low-pitched note (removal of p7 caused the sound to disappear) and p3 is the sound source of the high-pitched note, being necessary but perhaps not sufficient (removal of p3 caused the sound to disappear); the other modified feathers seem involved in different roles related to either producing the sonation (p4 and p5 interacting with p3) or allowing it (p6 raising dorsally letting p7 flutter freely; removal of p6 did not affect sound production). The specialized shape of p6 might be compromised to allow sonation of p7 without losing flight functionality. Sonations in Subtropical Doraditos occupy the position of the vocal flourish in the songs of other Pseudocolopteryx suggesting the evolutionary replacement of vocal by mechanical sounds. We propose that wing songs in flying birds may be constrained to occur in temporally broken patterns due to intrinsic features of flapped flight and structurally constrained by the demands of creating an airfoil.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emilio A Jordan
- Laboratorio de Ornitología, CICYTTP (CONICET-UADER-Prov. Entre Ríos), España 149, Diamante (E3105BWA), Entre Ríos, Argentina
| | - Juan I Areta
- Instituto de Bio y Geociencias del Noroeste Argentino (IBIGEO-CONICET), Laboratorio de Ecología, Comportamiento y Sonidos Naturales (ECOSON), Rosario de Lerma (4405), Salta, Argentina
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5
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Battey CJ. Evidence of linked selection on the Z chromosome of hybridizing hummingbirds. Evolution 2020; 74:725-739. [PMID: 31859363 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13888] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/14/2019] [Revised: 10/01/2019] [Accepted: 11/12/2019] [Indexed: 12/25/2022]
Abstract
Levels of genetic differentiation vary widely along the genomes of recently diverged species. What processes cause this variation? Here, I analyze geographic population structure and genome-wide patterns of variation in the Rufous, Allen's, and Calliope Hummingbirds (Selasphorus rufus/Selasphorus sasin/Selasphorus calliope) and assess evidence that linked selection on the Z chromosome drives patterns of genetic differentiation in a pair of hybridizing species. Demographic models, introgression tests, and genotype clustering analyses support a reticulate evolutionary history consistent with divergence during the late Pleistocene followed by gene flow across migrant Rufous and Allen's Hummingbirds during the Holocene. Relative genetic differentiation ( F s t ) is elevated, and within-population diversity (π) is depressed on the Z chromosome in all interspecific comparisons. The ratio of Z to autosomal within-population diversity is much lower than that expected from population size effects alone, and Tajima's D is depressed on the Z chromosome in S. rufus and S. calliope. These results suggest that conserved structural features of the genome play a prominent role in shaping genetic differentiation through the early stages of speciation in northern Selasphorus hummingbirds, and that the Z chromosome is a likely site of genes underlying behavioral and morphological variation in the group.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Battey
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, 97403-1201.,Current Address: Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Oregon, Eugene, OR, 97403
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Clark CJ, Rankin D. Subtle, pervasive genetic correlation between the sexes in the evolution of dimorphic hummingbird tail ornaments*. Evolution 2019; 74:528-543. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.13881] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/10/2019] [Accepted: 10/22/2019] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J. Clark
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology University of California, Riverside Riverside CA 92521
| | - David Rankin
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology University of California, Riverside Riverside CA 92521
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Clark CJ, Mistick EA. Strategic Acoustic Control of a Hummingbird Courtship Dive. Curr Biol 2018; 28:1257-1264.e6. [PMID: 29657113 DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2018.03.021] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2017] [Revised: 02/27/2018] [Accepted: 03/08/2018] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
Male hummingbirds court females with a high-speed dive in which they "sing" with their tail feathers. The male's choice of trajectory provides him strategic control over acoustic frequency and pressure levels heard by the female. Unlike related species, male Costa's hummingbirds (Calypte costae) choose to place their dives to the side of females. Here we show that this minimizes an audible Doppler curve in their dive sound, thereby depriving females of an acoustic indicator that would otherwise reveal male dive speed. Wind-tunnel experiments indicate that the sounds produced by their feathers are directional; thus, males should aim their tail toward females. High-speed video of dives reveal that males twist half of their tail vertically during the dive, which acoustic-camera video shows effectively aims this sound sideways, toward the female. Our results demonstrate that male animals can strategically modulate female perception of dynamic aspects of athletic motor displays, such as their speed.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA.
| | - Emily A Mistick
- Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology, University of California, Riverside, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
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Clark CJ, McGuire JA, Bonaccorso E, Berv JS, Prum RO. Complex coevolution of wing, tail, and vocal sounds of courting male bee hummingbirds. Evolution 2018; 72:630-646. [PMID: 29380351 DOI: 10.1111/evo.13432] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2016] [Accepted: 08/11/2017] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Phenotypic characters with a complex physical basis may have a correspondingly complex evolutionary history. Males in the "bee" hummingbird clade court females with sound from tail-feathers, which flutter during display dives. On a phylogeny of 35 species, flutter sound frequency evolves as a gradual, continuous character on most branches. But on at least six internal branches fall two types of major, saltational changes: mode of flutter changes, or the feather that is the sound source changes, causing frequency to jump from one discrete value to another. In addition to their tail "instruments," males also court females with sound from their syrinx and wing feathers, and may transfer or switch instruments over evolutionary time. In support of this, we found a negative phylogenetic correlation between presence of wing trills and singing. We hypothesize this transference occurs because wing trills and vocal songs serve similar functions and are thus redundant. There are also three independent origins of self-convergence of multiple signals, in which the same species produces both a vocal (sung) frequency sweep, and a highly similar nonvocal sound. Moreover, production of vocal, learned song has been lost repeatedly. Male bee hummingbirds court females with a diverse, coevolving array of acoustic traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, California 92521.,Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
| | - Jimmy A McGuire
- Department of Integrative Biology and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
| | - Elisa Bonaccorso
- Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Diego de Robles y Pampite, 17-1200-841 Quito, Ecuador.,Centro de Investigación de la Biodiversidad y Cambio Climático, Universidad Tecnológica Indoamérica, Quito, Ecuador; and Colegio de Ciencias Biológicas y Ambientales, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Diego de Robles y Vía Interoceánica, 17-1200-841 Quito, Ecuador
| | - Jacob S Berv
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, NY 14850
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520
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9
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Clark CJ, Kirschel ANG, Hadjioannou L, Prum RO. Smithornis broadbills produce loud wing song by aeroelastic flutter of medial primary wing feathers. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 219:1069-75. [PMID: 27030781 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.131664] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2015] [Accepted: 01/23/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Broadbills in the genus Smithornis produce a loud brreeeeet during a distinctive flight display. It has been posited that this klaxon-like sound is generated non-vocally with the outer wing feathers (P9, P10), but no scientific studies have previously addressed this hypothesis. Although most birds that make non-vocal communication sounds have feathers with a shape distinctively modified for sound production, Smithornis broadbills do not. We investigated whether this song is produced vocally or with the wings in rufous-sided broadbill (S. rufolateralis) and African broad bill (S. capensis). In support of the wing song hypothesis, synchronized high-speed video and sound recordings of displays demonstrated that sound pulses were produced during the downstroke, subtle gaps sometimes appeared between the outer primary feathers P6-P10, and wing tip speed reached 16 m s(-1) Tests of a spread wing in a wind tunnel demonstrated that at a specific orientation, P6 and P7 flutter and produce sound. Wind tunnel tests on individual feathers P5-P10 from a male of each species revealed that while all of these feathers can produce sound via aeroelastic flutter, P6 and P7 produce the loudest sounds, which are similar in frequency to the wing song, at airspeeds achievable by the wing tip during display flight. Consistent with the wind tunnel experiments, field manipulations of P6, P7 and P8 changed the timbre of the wing song, and reduced its tonality, demonstrating that P6 and P7 are together the sound source, and not P9 or P10. The resultant wing song appears to have functionally replaced vocal song.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, PO Box 208106, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Alexander N G Kirschel
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus Edward Grey Institute, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3PS, UK
| | - Louis Hadjioannou
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cyprus, Nicosia 1678, Cyprus
| | - Richard O Prum
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, PO Box 208106, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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Niese RL, Tobalske BW. Specialized primary feathers produce tonal sounds during flight in rock pigeons (Columba livia). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016; 219:2173-81. [PMID: 27207645 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.131649] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2015] [Accepted: 05/05/2016] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
For centuries, naturalists have suggested that the tonal elements of pigeon wing sounds may be sonations (non-vocal acoustic signals) of alarm. However, spurious tonal sounds may be produced passively as a result of aeroelastic flutter in the flight feathers of almost all birds. Using mechanistic criteria emerging from recent work on sonations, we sought to: (1) identify characteristics of rock pigeon flight feathers that might be adapted for sound production rather than flight, and (2) provide evidence that this morphology is necessary for in vivo sound production and is sufficient to replicate in vivo sounds. Pigeons produce tonal sounds (700±50 Hz) during the latter two-thirds of each downstroke during take-off. These tones are produced when a small region of long, curved barbs on the inner vane of the outermost primary feather (P10) aeroelastically flutters. Tones were silenced in live birds when we experimentally increased the stiffness of this region to prevent flutter. Isolated P10 feathers were sufficient to reproduce in vivo sounds when spun at the peak angular velocity of downstroke (53.9-60.3 rad s(-1)), but did not produce tones at average downstroke velocity (31.8 rad s(-1)), whereas P9 and P1 feathers never produced tones. P10 feathers had significantly lower coefficients of resultant aerodynamic force (CR) when spun at peak angular velocity than at average angular velocity, revealing that production of tonal sounds incurs an aerodynamic cost. P9 and P1 feathers did not show this difference in CR These mechanistic results suggest that the tonal sounds produced by P10 feathers are not incidental and may function in communication.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert L Niese
- Field Research Station at Fort Missoula, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA Slater Museum of Natural History, Biology Department, University of Puget Sound, Tacoma, WA 98416, USA
| | - Bret W Tobalske
- Field Research Station at Fort Missoula, Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, Missoula, MT 59812, USA
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Clark CJ. Locomotion-Induced Sounds and Sonations: Mechanisms, Communication Function, and Relationship with Behavior. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2016. [DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-27721-9_4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/12/2023]
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12
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Clark CJ, Prum RO. Aeroelastic flutter of feathers, flight and the evolution of non-vocal communication in birds. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2015; 218:3520-7. [PMID: 26385327 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.126458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2015] [Accepted: 09/03/2015] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Tonal, non-vocal sounds are widespread in both ordinary bird flight and communication displays. We hypothesized these sounds are attributable to an aerodynamic mechanism intrinsic to flight feathers: aeroelastic flutter. Individual wing and tail feathers from 35 taxa (from 13 families) that produce tonal flight sounds were tested in a wind tunnel. In the wind tunnel, all of these feathers could flutter and generate tonal sound, suggesting that the capacity to flutter is intrinsic to flight feathers. This result implies that the aerodynamic mechanism of aeroelastic flutter is potentially widespread in flight of birds. However, the sounds these feathers produced in the wind tunnel replicated the actual flight sounds of only 15 of the 35 taxa. Of the 20 negative results, we hypothesize that 10 are false negatives, as the acoustic form of the flight sound suggests flutter is a likely acoustic mechanism. For the 10 other taxa, we propose our negative wind tunnel results are correct, and these species do not make sounds via flutter. These sounds appear to constitute one or more mechanism(s) we call 'wing whirring', the physical acoustics of which remain unknown. Our results document that the production of non-vocal communication sounds by aeroelastic flutter of flight feathers is widespread in birds. Across all birds, most evolutionary origins of wing- and tail-generated communication sounds are attributable to three mechanisms: flutter, percussion and wing whirring. Other mechanisms of sound production, such as turbulence-induced whooshes, have evolved into communication sounds only rarely, despite their intrinsic ubiquity in ordinary flight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Christopher J Clark
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
| | - Richard O Prum
- Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, and Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511, USA
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