Motor Correlates of Vocal Diversity in Songbirds

Abstract

Oscine songbirds invest a substantial amount of time producing song, which has important roles in male-male competition and in attracting and stimulating a mate (Howard, 1920), as well as in species (Becker, 1982) and individual (Falls, 1982) recognition. Their diverse and often elaborate songs have placed them at the interface of neurobiology, behavior, and ecology as excellent subjects in which to study vocal communication. Toward this end, neurobiologists have made important advances in understanding the neural basis of vocal learning (e.g., Doupe, 1993; Arnold, 1992) and the central control of song production (e.g., Yu and Margoliash, 1996; Vu et al., 1994) and behavioral ecologists have gained new insights into the perceptual significance and communicative functions of song (e.g., Searcy and Yasukawa, 1996).