Cultural evolution in rufous-and-white wrens (Thryophilus rufalbus): insights from acoustic and genetic analyses

摘要: Acoustic signals play an important role in the evolutionary process. Studying variation in acoustic signals and the evolutionary forces that act on acoustic evolution will help to clarify the role that acoustic divergence plays during speciation. The acoustic signals of birds have been well studied, although most historical research has focused on the acoustic traits of males living at temperate latitudes. Recent work shows that female song is more common than previously thought, particularly in the tropics, and that female song is the ancestral trait in birds. Therefore further research on the acoustic traits of females is necessary to examine the evolutionary significance of animal vocal signals. In this dissertation I compare patterns of cultural evolution in male and female Rufous-and-white Wrens, and I examine the evolutionary forces that act on male and female acoustic signals. To achieve this goal, I combine acoustic and …