Animal Culture - Vocal Signal Function

Colorado State University, Fort Collins CO

Investigators

Abstract

Title: Animal Culture - Vocal Signal Function PI: Dr. Myron C. Baker Dr. Baker will conduct research on the cultural evolution of a songbird vocalization to obtain an understanding of the key features of social evolution in animals that exhibit cultural traits. In songbirds, culture is manifest in vocal signals used in communication. These learned vocal signals are inherited across generations by young birds copying the vocalizations of adults, similar to the way speech patterns are transmitted in human populations. A general theory of cultural evolution broadly applicable to both man and animals will derive from studies that explain the diversity, maintenance, and change of cultural traits, studies such as those planned in this research program. In the proposed research, several questions about the process and consequences of vocal learning in a model species of songbird are addressed. This species, the black-capped chickadee, exhibits population dialects in one of its common vocalizations, a vocal signal used in aggressive interactions with other individuals. The properties of this vocalization, and its use in behavioral interactions, will be studied both in the natural context of wild populations as well as in experimental settings in the laboratory. Questions to be addressed are: (1) In what ways do the properties of this vocalization differ between populations? (2) What is the rate of change in vocal dialects over time? (3) What behavioral processes lead to the adoption of the local dialect by young birds and immigrants? (4) What are the benefits of adopting, and the costs of not adopting, the characteristic vocalizations of the local population? (5) How does the use of this vocalization influence the outcome of aggressive encounters? Answers to these and related questions will contribute fundamental building blocks to a general theory of cultural evolution.