Evolutionary Changes in a Song Control Area of the Brain (HVC) are Associated with Evolutionary Changes in Song Repertoire among European Warblers (Sylviidae)

Evolutionary Changes in a Song Control Area of the Brain (HVC) are Associated with Evolutionary Changes in Song Repertoire among European Warblers (Sylviidae)

Determining relations between brain structure and function is a principal focus of evolutionary neurobiology. Here we investigate covariation between singing behaviour and the neuroanatomy in eight species of sylviid warblers from the closely related Acrocephalus and Locustella genera. We found a si...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Vol. 263; no. 1370; pp. 607 - 610
Main Authors: Székely, Tamás, Catchpole, Clive K., Devoogd, Albert, Marchl, Zsuzsa, Devoogd, Timothy J.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: London The Royal Society 22-05-1996
Subjects:
Biological taxonomies
Bird songs
Evolution
Male animals
Phylogeny
Residual volume
Sexual selection
Syllables
Telencephalon
Warblers
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Summary:Determining relations between brain structure and function is a principal focus of evolutionary neurobiology. Here we investigate covariation between singing behaviour and the neuroanatomy in eight species of sylviid warblers from the closely related Acrocephalus and Locustella genera. We found a significant positive correlation between repertoire size and the volume of the higher vocal centre after controlling for variation in brain size and phylogenetic relatedness across species. This group is of particular interest, as earlier work has shown that an increase in male song complexity (as measured by syllable repertoire size) is caused by sexual selection pressure acting through female choice. Thus, in males of Acrocephalus species (which have complex songs), sexual selection appears to have led to increases in both syllable repertoire size and the relative volume of the higher vocal centre. In contrast, Locustella species have very simple songs, and repertoire size and the relative volume of the higher vocal centre remain small in males of these species. These results indicate that sexual selection may have shaped the evolution of a particular behavioural trait (song) by altering the relevant controlling area of the brain (higher vocal centre).
Bibliography:istex:DA60388C1FF96F8D74696484E8D7479731FEFA1D
ark:/67375/V84-RMZRTW3B-6
This text was harvested from a scanned image of the original document using optical character recognition (OCR) software. As such, it may contain errors. Please contact the Royal Society if you find an error you would like to see corrected. Mathematical notations produced through Infty OCR.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.1996.0091