NSF Postdoctoral Fellowship in Biology FY 2015

Leighton Gavin M, Coral Gables FL

Investigators

Abstract

This action funds an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology for FY 2015, Research Using Biological Collections. The fellowship supports a research and training plan for the Fellow to take transformative approaches to grand challenges in biology that employ biological collections in highly innovative ways. The title of the research plan for this fellowship to Gavin M. Leighton is "The influence of sociality on the complexity of communication in avian species". The host institution for this fellowship is Cornell University, and the sponsoring scientists are Dr. Michael Webster and Dr. Irby Lovette. Biological organisms that live in groups communicate with other group members; and benefits associated with identifying predators or identifying foraging resources likely select for new signals in the communication repertoire of the group. Species that live in groups may therefore develop a more complex communication system than thosse who do not live in groups. Similarly, the benefits of unambiguous communication may produce less acoustically complex signals. To test these predictions about social communication the fellowship research uses the Macaulay Sound Library at Cornell University to examine these questions across bird species. The Macaulay library has over 200,000 sound files from birds, allowing sampling a vast array of species to determine the complexity of the vocalizations in each species. Data are being collected from published sources on whether species live as solitary individuals or whether individuals live in groups for some part of the year or the entirety of the year. The resulting datasets are being combined to determine if sociality influences the complexity of communication. This unprecedented analysis comparing communication and sociality promises to yield insight into the effects of group living and how individuals signal to one another when they are part of a group. Training goals are to develop proficiencies in multiple contemporary techniques including the use of software that measures and analyzes acoustic components of bird song and comparative analysis of acoustic data and social variables. Educational outreach includes training students in computer-programming techniques and analyzing large biological datasets.