Eliot A. Brenowitz, P.I. DDIG: Proposal #: IOS-0808562
The complex and beautiful songs of birds have always intrigued humans. For the Oscine passerines (songbirds), these songs are even more interesting because they must be learned. Song learning in birds has been extensively analyzed in the laboratory and has become a major model system for studying the ecology, evolution, neurobiology, and genetics of learning in animals. In addition, there are many parallels between the vocal learning of birds and humans, including the importance of social factors, making bird song one of the best models for studying human language learning. This research is an experimental field study investigating the role of social factors in bird song learning. Laboratory work of the last few years has suggested, surprisingly, that a young bird is more influenced by singing interactions he eavesdrops on than by direct interactions he has with adult song tutors. Recent fieldwork, using radio telemetry to follow juvenile birds in the wild and observe their interactions with adult tutors, also corroborates the importance of eavesdropping on singing interactions. The present study will use radio and heart rate telemetry to experimentally examine the behavioral and physiological response of juvenile song sparrows to different types of simulated singing. This research will investigate the importance of eavesdropping in song learning by assessing the response of juvenile birds to playback of different types of adult singing contests compared with solo adult singing. The results from these field experiments will compliment previous and ongoing laboratory research in elucidating the social factors that shape song development in this model vocal learning system. In addition to its scientific impacts, this work will be of considerable educational value, through dedicated training of undergraduates and through formal educational experiences and countless informal interactions with the general public at the field site (a busy urban park).
