不同生长发育期的虎皮鹦鹉发声行为与发声控制神经核团的研究

鸟类的鸣叫依赖于发育完善的鸣管并接受各级发声中枢组成的机能控制系统的调控,善鸣唱的鸟类前脑控制发声的神经核团发达.用石蜡切片法和生物信号采集处理系统对不同生长发育期的虎皮鹦鹉的发声控制神经核团的体积和声音进行了比较性研究.结果发现:(1)随着虎皮鹦鹉的成长,核团体积逐渐增大,核团轮廓逐渐清晰,而且雄鸟的核团明显大于雌鸟;(2)在鸟类成长的过程中,鸟的叫声越来越复杂,幅度越来越高,雄鸟的叫声比雌鸟更复杂,雌鸟的叫声比雄鸟的叫声幅度更高;(3)鸟类鸣叫的复杂程度和发声控制神经核团的体积呈相关性.     

不同气味对虎皮鹦鹉取食行为影响

研究发现许多鸟类具有发育良好的嗅觉系统,但气味是否影响鸟类取食行为的研究报道较少。本研究开展了长尾林鸮（Strix uralensis）、金雕（Aquila chrysaetos）、家犬和家猫的粪便气味以及香水和香烟的气味对虎皮鹦鹉（Melopsittacus undulates）取食行为影响的比较研究。研究发现,虎皮鹦鹉在香水气味下的取食意图显著低于长尾林鸮粪便气味和无气味对照;在金雕粪便、猫粪便、香水及香烟气味下的取食频次显著低于无气味对照,同时香水及香烟气味下的取食频次显著低于长尾林鸮粪便气味,说明虎皮鹦鹉可能通过气味识别潜在的风险,进而调整取食行为。     

鸟类脑干听觉诱发电位的观察

采用短声刺激鸟类听觉感受器的方法,对15只健康成年虎皮鹦鹉的脑干听觉诱发电位进行了实验观察。结果发现,鸟类头顶均能记录到与听觉有关的脑干听觉诱发电位Ⅰ波、Ⅱ波、Ⅲ波、Ⅳ波和Ⅴ波。为鸟类语言发声研究的听力学评价提供一个简便可行的方法。     

虎皮鹦鹉在青岛市的繁殖情况及其经济效益调查

虎皮鹦鹉在青岛市的繁殖情况及其经济效益调查李声林,鲁善昌青岛市鸟类保护环志站２６６１００青岛市森防检疫站根据１９８４年青岛市林业局实施对外运虎皮鹦鹉检查工作以来积累的数据;１９９２年对全市人工繁殖虎皮鹦鹉调查情况的数据;１９９３年对多年饲养、饲养１０...     

虎皮鹦鹉(Melopsittacus undulatfus)的振动敏感性研究

本文研究了虎皮鹦鹉对正弦振动的敏感性,旨在探索其腿部存在赫氏小体,和阐明其震前声行为反应与地面振动的关系提供依据。虎皮鹦鹉对５０－８０Ｈｚ的正弦振动不敏感,振动位移约２００－５０μｍ才可能激起声行为反应．但对１００－２５０Ｈｚ的正弦振动具有显著的敏感性,反应阈值约１０－２μｍ。对１３０－１７０Ｈｚ和２００－２５０Ｈｚ阈值反应,约７０％的潜伏期（ＬＰ）分别为ＬＰ＜３０５和ＬＰ＜１５ｓ。     

虎皮鹦鹉的振动敏感性研究

本文研究了虎皮鹦鹉对正弦振动的敏感性,旨在探索其腿部存在赫氏小体,和阐明其震前声反应与地面振动的关系提供依据,虎皮鹦鹉对５－８０Ｈｚ的正弦振动不敏感,振动位移约２００－５０μｍ才可能激起声行为反应,但对１００－２５０Ｈｚ的正弦振动具有显著的敏感性,反应阈值约１０－２μｍ,对１３０－１７０Ｈｚ和２００－２５０Ｈｚ阈值反应,约７０％的潜伏期分别为ＬＰ＜３０ｓ和ＬＰ＜１５ｓ。     

野生猕猴声行为的研究

本文通过在华南四省区对四个野生种群猕猴声行为的观察和现场录音,对它们的叫声声学特性,行为模式和其它个体对其相应的行为反应进行了定量的分析研究,并得出１１种不同的声行为,这些声行为有相互不同的声学特性,不同的行为模式并引起其它个体相应的行为反应,从而起着通讯的作用。叫声在猕猴的声行为通讯中,一些借助视觉提示,至少以不同的刺激度来“表示”某一类事物,并得到个体间的“共识”有些甚至无需视觉提示而单独传递     

繁殖期内丹顶鹤的日常短鸣声行为模式分析

繁殖期内,丹顶鹤(Grus japonensis)的日常短鸣声行为具有一定的模式。本文通过行为的实时观察,并利用MATLAB分析软件对日常短鸣声进行了计算机声谱分析,给出了鸣声模式的声图、示波图和频谱。结果表明：雄性的鸣声特性是每个单次叫声中含有的音节数较少,一般不超过4个音节;而雌性的鸣声特性是每个单次叫声中含有的音节数较多,最少的含有4个音节。雌雄鸣声的共同特性是每个音节都是由三个声脉冲组成。l号鹤的谐和特性较好,2号音色较纯净;雌性鸣肌速率较高,雄性则较低。自由选择配对组配偶间音质是一纯一杂,而人为组合组雌雄音质相同。     

鸟类新名录揭示400新物种

<正>目前,人们意识到,全世界共有46种新鹦鹉、36种新蜂鸟和26种新猫头鹰,而这多亏Lynx Edicions和国际鸟类联盟共同出版的一份带有插图的世界鸟类名录,这也是世界上首个此类名录。在花费4年时间收集了活鸟信息和观察博物馆样本后,研究人员通过向5种特征分配得分,从而对地球上的鸟类进行了分类。这5种特征分别是:尺寸、叫声、羽毛、行为和彼此间的地缘关系。基于这些得分,科学家识别出462种新物种,之前这些鸟被归为亚种。该新分类对于全球性保护努力而言十分重要,科学     

虎皮鹦鹉耳蜗感觉细胞的发育与听觉的关系

选用18d、38d、成鸟(3月以上)三种年龄的雄性虎皮鹦鹉作为实验材料,采用测量脑干听觉诱发电位和制作内耳的石蜡切片两种方法,研究了鸟类在发育时期耳蜗感觉上皮细胞的变化以及听觉功能的发育状况。鸟的听觉能力在出生后不断得到提高,38d基本达到成鸟的水平;耳蜗毛细胞的形态、内部结构逐渐趋于成熟,其灵敏度不断提高,感受听觉的能力也在增强,38d基本与成鸟的发育程度相同。耳蜗感觉上皮细胞的发育对听觉行为产生的时间和发展具有极为重要的影响。     

Principles of Acoustic Communication between Man and Birds

The mechanisms of generating alarm calls of different bird species, species-specific calls of closely related species, and intraspecific differences in calls were analyzed. These mechanisms proved to be basically the same: variation of temporal parameters within the frequency range limited by morphological structures of the vocal apparatus. This principle is used for constructing acoustic synthesizers allowing communication with birds and control over their behavior. The results of this work are discussed in terms of the possibility of generated signal processing by the auditory system of birds.     

Hierarchical semantic information modeling and ontology for bird ecology

Birds have become an increasing concern for ecological preservation and safety. This paper proposes hierarchical architecture of semantic sensing information for bird acoustic data representation in bird ecological environment. This architecture provides various real-time sensing data such as bird calls using acoustic sensors in sensor networks. In this paper, we implement an ontology structure of hierarchical semantic information representation in bird’s ecological environment. Information of this architecture supports to recognize bird calls, identify birds, classify species, and to track a bird behavior in bird ecological environment. All of this would indicate that we suggest relationship between phenomenon data to service/semantic information in bird ecology.     

Formation of passerine (Passeriformes) vocalization in ontogeny: the current state of the problem

It the acoustic signal system of birds, songs and calls are distinguished. Up to the late 1970s, the attention of researchers was focused primarily on studying the process of song formation; the patterns of the call system formation remained virtually unstudied. In this field, the prevailing notion was that, since all calls are hereditary, their formation in the repertoire of all birds is similar. This notion was based on non-passerine birds, for which calls constitute most of the vocal communication. Most calls can, indeed, be formed without learning, even in nestlings raised in isolation. Yet some calls remain and are transferred in populations only through learning. The stages of sound repertoire development reflect crucial reorganizations of the acoustic behaviour of nestlings and are distinctly recognizable in most of the studied birds. The first three stages coincide with the periods of postnatal development of altricial birds distinguished by researchers from other fields (based on morphological, behavioural, and physiological characters). These are the early nestling, later nestling, and post-nestling periods. Two more periods may, however, be distinguished in the formation of vocalization: the fourth, confined to the period of hormonal reorganization of the organism during the autumn moult, and the fifth, coinciding with the beginning of the first reproductive cycle of the young bird. The formation of calls in representatives of different systematic groups (to families inclusive) can follow three principal paths: independent, successive, or explosive. Data on the development of the specific repertoire of acoustic signals in ontogeny can serve as a reliable taxonomic criterion, assisting in reconstructing and specifying phylogenetic relationships between different bird lineages.     

Visual and auditory cues in conspecific discrimination learning in Bengalese finches

Four Bengalese finches were trained to discriminate 2 conspecific individuals in an operant chamber. Still visual images and contact calls were simultaneously presented to the subjects and specific (“correct”) perching response was reinforced with food. After the birds acquired the discrimination, they received the first test in which visual cues alone, auditory cues alone and combination of the 2 modalities were presented. Visual cues dominantly controlled the discriminative behavior of all birds. Then the subjects received the second test in which mixtures of the visual image of 2 stimulus birds appeared under 3 different auditory conditions, namely, no call, calls of 1 bird and calls of the other bird. Two subjects used the auditory cues when the visual stimulus was a mixture of 2 stimulus birds. These results suggest that the birds used less dominant cues when the dominant cues gave ambiguous information.     

Assortative Pairing Based on Contact Call Similarity in Budgerigars, Melopsittacus undulatus

A trait typical of parrots, but rare in other groups of birds, is the acquisition of new learned calls (acquired by copying conspecifics) throughout an individual's lifetime. The significance of this distinctive psittacid trait is not understood. In budgerigars, females preferentially affiliate with unfamiliar males whose contact calls resemble their own during brief dyadic choice trials; also, in forced‐pair situations, contact call similarity of members of pairs increases as a result of a male tendency to imitate his mate's call type. The functions of budgerigar call imitation and preference for pre‐pairing similarity are currently unknown. Moreover, as budgerigar pair formation occurs over a span of days or weeks, it is important to determine whether birds in breeding colonies assort and proceed to breed on the basis of pre‐pairing contact call similarity, and whether high levels of call similarity are maintained after pair formation is complete. To explore these questions, we recorded contact calls of male and female budgerigars before and after they were placed into an aviary equipped for breeding. As predicted, birds paired assortatively based on pre‐pairing call similarity. Once birds had paired, their calls converged further in acoustic structure, as previous work had led us to expect. However, after eggs were laid and the males began to feed their mates, the calls of mated birds diverged, suggesting that there might be some cost to maintenance of shared calls. Male care‐giving correlated with the degree to which his pre‐pairing calls resembled those of his mate, but not with the similarity achieved through convergence. These results suggest that female budgerigars may use a male's pre‐pairing call similarity as a predictor of paternal investment. The questions of why such similarity predicts male care‐giving, and why calls converge following initial pairing activities, require further work.     

Decoding the ‘zeep’ complex: quantitative analysis of interspecific variation in the nocturnal flight calls of nine wood warbler species (Parulidae spp.)

ABSTRACT

The “zeep” complex consists of nine birds that produce nocturnal flight calls with similar acoustic features. Our inability to distinguish these calls inhibits the acoustic monitoring of these species. We test the hypothesis that flight calls of nine warblers in the “zeep” complex show sufficient acoustic differences to allow differentiation. We investigate divergence in these vocalizations by recording birds held for banding and collecting additional recordings from sound libraries. We used three approaches to compare calls between species: analysis of variance in acoustic properties, discriminant analysis of acoustic properties, and spectrographic cross-correlation. The first approach revealed five species that were different in one or more acoustic properties. The second approach revealed a level of assignment to the correct species (73%) that exceeded levels expected by chance (36%). The third approach revealed calls of seven species to be significantly more similar to conspecific calls than heterospecific calls. Our results suggest the calls of many members of the “zeep” complex exhibit species-specific differences in structure, which may allow differentiation of at least five “zeep” species based on call alone. We advocate for the combined use of these three approaches for the comparison of “zeep” calls in future flight call studies.     

Microgeographic Variation and Sharing of the Gargle Vocalization and Its Component Syllables in Black-Capped Chickadee (Aves, Paridae, Poecile atricapillus) Populations

Throughout the year during agonistic encounters, black‐capped chickadees (Poecile atricapillus) emit a vocal signal known as the gargle call. Each bird has a repertoire of structurally differing gargle calls; some are shared with others in the local area. As a basis for understanding the cultural evolution of this social signal, we initiated a study of gargle call repertoires of birds living in a narrow belt of continuous riparian habitat occupied throughout by a resident population of chickadees. During two consecutive winter seasons, we sampled repertoires at three locations over a distance of 8.4 km to quantify micro‐geographical variation. Analyses of vocal sharing and population differentiation were carried out on whole gargle calls and on the individual acoustic units (syllables) from which the whole calls are constructed. We analysed 28 380 calls of 46 subjects in the two seasons of study. Birds averaged 7.6 different calls in their gargle repertoires. Calls were composed of about 10 syllables on average. Fifty‐six different syllables were used to construct the calls of all birds. Each study site had some gargle calls unique to the local birds and some that were shared with one or both of the other two sites. There was significantly greater sharing of both calls and syllables among birds within sample sites than between sample sites. The frequencies of the different kinds of gargles and syllables were significantly correlated across the 2 yr of the study, but the correlation was stronger (r² = 0.93) for syllables than for whole gargle calls (r² = 0.61).     

DETECTION OF SPECIES-SPECIFIC CALLS IN NOISE BY ZEBRA FINCHES POEPHILA GUTTATA AND BUDGERIGARS MELOPSITTACUS UNDULATUS: TIME OF FREQUENCY DOMAIN?

ABSTRACT

Two zebra finches and two budgerigars were trained, by operant conditioning, to detect autogenous (self-generated) distance calls in the presence of masking noise. For both species, there were no differences in detection thresholds for normal calls compared to time- reversed calls. Thresholds for autogenous calls were also compared with thresholds of the other species of birds listening to the same call. When detecting a zebra finch call, budgerigars had slightly lower thresholds than that of the zebra finch. On the other hand, when detecting a budgerigar call, zebra finches showed significantly higher thresholds than the budgerigar. From these results, and from what is known about basic hearing capabilities in these species, we conclude that these birds are not using a mechanism which utilizes “matched” or cross-correlational filtering. It is more likely that they are using “frequency-based” filtering in detecting calls in noise.     

Acoustic signals of baby black caimans

In spite of the importance of crocodilian vocalizations for the understanding of the evolution of sound communication in Archosauria and due to the small number of experimental investigations, information concerning the vocal world of crocodilians is limited. By studying black caimans Melanosuchus niger in their natural habitat, here we supply the experimental evidence that juvenile crocodilians can use a graded sound system in order to elicit adapted behavioral responses from their mother and siblings. By analyzing the acoustic structure of calls emitted in two different situations (‘undisturbed context’, during which spontaneous calls of juvenile caimans were recorded without perturbing the group, and a simulated ‘predator attack’, during which calls were recorded while shaking juveniles) and by testing their biological relevance through playback experiments, we reveal the existence of two functionally different types of juvenile calls that produce a different response from the mother and other siblings. Young black caimans can thus modulate the structure of their vocalizations along an acoustic continuum as a function of the emission context. Playback experiments show that both mother and juveniles discriminate between these ‘distress’ and ‘contact’ calls. Acoustic communication is thus an important component mediating relationships within family groups in caimans as it is in birds, their archosaurian relatives. Although probably limited, the vocal repertoire of young crocodilians is capable of transmitting the information necessary for allowing siblings and mother to modulate their behavior.     

Body size correlates negatively with the frequency of distress calls and songs of Neotropical birds

ABSTRACT The allometric relationship between body size and song frequency has been established in previous studies of temperate and tropical bird communities. However, the relationship between body size and the frequency of distress calls has been examined in only one study of temperate birds. We examined size‐frequency relationships in the distress calls and songs of a Neotropical bird community in northwestern Costa Rica. In 2008 and 2009, we recorded distress calls and determined the body mass of 54 mist‐netted birds representing 38 species, 35 genera, and 14 families. We obtained songs for these same species from sound libraries and commercially available compact discs. For each vocalization, we measured minimum frequency and frequency of maximum amplitude. Larger birds produced lower‐frequency distress calls and songs than smaller birds. Phylogenetically controlled analyses revealed that the frequency of maximum amplitude was negatively correlated with body mass for both distress calls and songs. Minimum frequency was negatively correlated with mass for distress calls, but not songs. Our analyses suggest that the influence of phylogeny on the relationship between frequency characteristics and body size is modest. Pair‐wise comparisons across 37 species revealed that distress calls and songs had similar minimum frequencies, but songs had significantly lower frequencies of maximum amplitude than distress calls. This difference may arise from differences in signal function. Lower‐frequency sounds should transmit farther through forest habitats and songs must often transmit longer distances to reach their intended audience than distress calls. Our results support the general theory that body size is negatively correlated with the frequency of acoustic signals by demonstrating that this pattern holds true for both distress calls and songs in a Neotropical bird community.