Geographic variation of birdsong may contribute to understanding relationship among signal variation, reproductive isolation and speciation, and processes of cultural evolution. Two sister species of Pipits (Anthus), the Berthelot’s Pipis A. berthelotii and the Tawny Pipit A. campestris, are convenient models to study patterns of song evolution in time and space and factors affecting it. They are closely related, with a similar simple vocalization (individually unique and temporally stable in the latter) but differ in evolutionary and life histories. Berthelot’s Pipis is a sedentary island endemic common from the Canaries to Madeira. Pattern of island colonisation has been reconstructed from genetic data, so its song variation should reflect cultural evolution in fragmented conspecific populations over an evolutionary timescale. In contrast, the continental Tawny Pipit is strictly migratory, and its populations became fragmented only recently due to human activities. The aim of the PhD project is to characterize and compare intraspecific geographic variation of songs of these two species, and evaluate short-term changes in a Tawny Pipit population continuously monitored for several years, to reveal which mechanisms contribute to their cultural evolution. For this purpose, multiple novel quantitative approaches will be used to characterize song element structure and similarity.
Předběžná náplň práce v anglickém jazyce
Geographic variation of birdsong may contribute to understanding relationship among signal variation, reproductive isolation and speciation, and processes of cultural evolution. Two sister species of Pipits (Anthus), the Berthelot’s Pipis A. berthelotii and the Tawny Pipit A. campestris, are convenient models to study patterns of song evolution in time and space and factors affecting it. They are closely related, with a similar simple vocalization (individually unique and temporally stable in the latter) but differ in evolutionary and life histories. Berthelot’s Pipis is a sedentary island endemic common from the Canaries to Madeira. Pattern of island colonisation has been reconstructed from genetic data, so its song variation should reflect cultural evolution in fragmented conspecific populations over an evolutionary timescale. In contrast, the continental Tawny Pipit is strictly migratory, and its populations became fragmented only recently due to human activities. The aim of the PhD project is to characterize and compare intraspecific geographic variation of songs of these two species, and evaluate short-term changes in a Tawny Pipit population continuously monitored for several years, to reveal which mechanisms contribute to their cultural evolution. For this purpose, multiple novel quantitative approaches will be used to characterize song element structure and similarity.
- zadáno a potvrzeno stud. odd.