Zebra finches exhibit speaker-independent phonetic perception of human speech

Humans readily distinguish spoken words that closely resemble each other in acoustic structure, irrespective of audible differences between individual voices or sex of the speakers. There is an ongoing debate about whether the ability to form phonetic categories that underlie such distinctions indicates the presence of uniquely evolved, speech-linked perceptual abilities, or is based on more general ones shared with other species. We demonstrate that zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) can discriminate and categorize monosyllabic words that differ in their vowel and transfer this categorization to the same words spoken by novel speakers independent of the sex of the voices. Our analysis indicates that the birds, like humans, use intrinsic and extrinsic speaker normalization to make the categorization. This finding shows that there is no need to invoke special mechanisms, evolved together with language, to explain this feature of speech perception.     

A phylogenetic reanalysis of allozyme variation among populations of Galapagos finches

We reanalysed Yang & Pattern's allozyme data, published in Auk in 1981, of Darwin's finches with a variety of distance and cladistic methods to estimate the phylogeny of the group. Different methods yielded different results, nevertheless there was widespread agreement among the distance methods on several groupings. First, the two species of Camarhynchus grouped near one another, but not always as a monophyletic group. Second, Cactospiza pallida and Platyspiza crassirostris formed a monophyletic group. Finally, all the methods (including parsimony) supported the monophyly of the ground finches. The three distance methods also found close relationships generally between each of two populations of Geospiza scandens, G. difficilis and G. conirostris. There is evidence for inconstancy of evolutionary rates among species. Results from distance methods allowing for rate variation among lineages suggest three conclusions which differ from Yang and Patton's findings. First, the monophyletic ground finches arose from the paraphyletic tree finches. Yang and Patton found that the ground finches and tree finches were sister monophyletic taxa. Second, Geospiza scandens appears to be a recently derived species, and not the most basal ground finch. Third, G. fuliginosa is not a recently derived species of ground finch, but was derived from an older split from the remaining ground finches. Most of these conclusions should be considered tentative both because the parsimony trees disagreed sharply with the distance trees and because no clades were strongly supported by the results of bootstrapping and statistical tests of alternative hypotheses. Absence of strong support for clades was probably due to insufficient data. Future phylogenetic studies, preferably using DNA sequence data from several unlinked loci, should sample several populations of each species, and should attempt to assess the importance of hybridization in species phylogeny.     

Foraging zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata) are public information users rather than conformists

Social learning enables adaptive information acquisition provided that it is not random but selective. To understand species typical decision-making and to trace the evolutionary origins of social learning, the heuristics social learners use need to be identified. Here, we experimentally tested the nature of majority influence in the zebra finch. Subjects simultaneously observed two demonstrator groups differing in relative and absolute numbers (ratios 1 : 2/2 : 4/3 : 3/1 : 5) foraging from two novel food sources (black and white feeders). We find that demonstrator groups influenced observers'' feeder choices (social learning), but that zebra finches did not copy the majority of individuals. Instead, observers were influenced by the foraging activity (pecks) of the demonstrators and in an anti-conformist fashion. These results indicate that zebra finches are not conformist, but are public information users.     

Genetic Variability and Taxonomical Considerations about Six Species of European Cardueline Finches (Aves, Passeriformes)

Electrophoretic patterns of seven enzyme systems and two nonenzymatic proteins, albumin and haemoglobin, representing 13 loci, have been investigated in six species of cardueline finches with Palearctic distribution. A new locus, SOD-3, has been characterized in this subfamily. The two nonenzymatic proteins turned out to be the best genetic markers. From the analysis of the genetic distances it emerges that the mean values between species are higher than those reported for other groups of birds. However, the same results were obtained for other species of the same subfamily native to North America. In both cases this result is probably due to a classification that disagrees with the real cardueline phylogeny. In the present study, the attribution of the Greenfinch to the genus Carduelis raises the mean value of distance between species.     

Darwin's finches and their diet niches: the sympatric coexistence of imperfect generalists

Adaptive radiation can be strongly influenced by interspecific competition for resources, which can lead to diverse outcomes ranging from competitive exclusion to character displacement. In each case, sympatric species are expected to evolve into distinct ecological niches, such as different food types, yet this expectation is not always met when such species are examined in nature. The most common hypotheses to account for the coexistence of species with substantial diet overlap rest on temporal variation in niches (often diets). Yet spatial variation in niche overlap might also be important, pointing to the need for spatiotemporal analyses of diet and diet overlap between closely related species persisting in sympatry. We here perform such an analysis by characterizing the diets of, and diet overlap among, four sympatric Darwin's ground finch species at three sites and over 5 years on a single Galápagos island (Santa Cruz). We find that the different species have broadly similar and overlapping diets – they are to some extent generalists and opportunists – yet we also find that each species retains some ‘private’ resources for which their morphologies are best suited. Importantly, use of these private resources increased considerably, and diet overlap decreased accordingly, when the availability of preferred shared foods, such as arthropods, was reduced during drought conditions. Spatial variation in food resources was also important. These results together suggest that the ground finches are ‘imperfect generalists’ that use overlapping resources under benign conditions (in space or time), but then retreat to resources for which they are best adapted during periods of food limitation. These conditions likely promote local and regional coexistence.     

Complete phylogeny and historical biogeography of true rosefinches (Aves: Carpodacus)

True rosefinches (Aves: Carpodacus) are restricted to Eurasia, and 19 out of 25 species occur in the Sino‐Himalayas, making this the likely centre of origin. To test this hypothesis, suggested species splits had to be evaluated and potential further cryptic diversity unravelled. A taxon‐complete dated molecular phylogeny was reconstructed using maximum‐likelihood and Bayesian methods. Maximum‐parsimony and likelihood approaches were applied to deduce ancestral areas. Rosefinches, including the widespread Carpodacus erythrinus (Pallas, 1770), originated in south‐west China (and the Himalayas) 14 Mya, and gave rise to a smaller clade consisting of C. erythrinus, Haematospiza sipahi (Hodgson, 1836), and Chaunoproctus ferreorostris (Vigors, 1829), and a larger clade with 22 species. The latter split into four major lineages through vicariance during the uplift of the Himalayas. The suggested species splits of dubius from Carpodacus thura Bonaparte & Schlegel, 1850, formosanus from Carpodacus vinaceus Verreaux, 1871, grandis from Carpodacus rhodochlamys Brandt, 1843, verreauxii from Carpodacus rodopeplus (Vigors, 1831) (even polyphyletic) could be supported, whereas the suggested split of severtzovi from Carpodacus rubicilla (Güldenstädt, 1775) appears to be too young, and should be considered intraspecific. On the other hand, the central Asian lineage of Carpodacus synoicus Temminck, 1825 deserves species rank [Carpodacus stolickae (Hume, 1874)]. The Carpodacus eos/pulcherrimus complex consists of four lineages, pulcherrimus/argyrophrys and davidianus [Carpodacus pulcherrimus s.s. (Moore, 1856)], and eos and waltoni [Carpodacus waltoni (Sharpe, 1905)]. © 2013 The Linnean Society of London     

VPAC receptor signaling modulates grouping behavior and social responses to contextual novelty in a gregarious finch: A role for a putative prefrontal cortex homologue

In both mammals and birds, vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) neurons and fibers are present in virtually every brain area that is important for social behavior. VIP influences aggression in birds, social recognition in rodents, and prolactin secretion in both taxa, but other possible functions in social modulation remain little explored. VIP effects are mediated by VPAC receptors, which bind both VIP and pituitary adenylate cyclase activating peptide. Within the lateral septum and medial bed nucleus of the stria terminalis, VPAC receptors are found at higher densities in gregarious finch species relative to territorial species, suggesting that VPAC receptor activation promotes social contact and/or preference for larger groups. Here we here test this hypothesis in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), and also examine the relevance of VPAC receptors to anxiety-like processes. Intraventricular infusions of the VPAC receptor antagonist, neurotensin6–11 mouseVIP7–28, strongly reduce social contact when animals are tested in a novel environment, and exert sex-specific effects on grouping behavior. Specifically, VPAC receptor antagonism reduces gregariousness in females but increases gregariousness in males. Interestingly, VPAC antagonism in the medial pallium (putative prefrontal cortex homologue) significantly reduces gregariousness in both sexes, suggesting site-specific effects of VIP signaling. However, VPAC antagonism does not modulate novel-familiar social preferences in a familiar environment or general anxiety-like behaviors. The current results suggest that endogenous activation of VPAC receptors promotes social contact under novel environmental conditions, a function that may be accentuated in gregarious species. Moreover, endogenous VIP modulates gregariousness in both males and females.