| Literature DB >> 30283692 |
Maria Goller1, Daizaburo Shizuka1.
Abstract
Vocal learning is an important behavior in oscines (songbirds). Some songbird species learn heterospecific sounds as well as conspecific vocalizations. The emergence of vocal mimicry is necessarily tied to the evolution of vocal learning, as mimicry requires the ability to acquire sounds through learning. As such, tracking the evolutionary origins of vocal mimicry may provide insights into the causes of variation in song learning programs among songbirds. We compiled a database of known vocal mimics that comprised 339 species from 43 families. We then traced the evolutionary history of vocal mimicry across the avian phylogeny using ancestral trait reconstruction on a dataset of oscine passerines for which vocalizations have been described. We found that the common ancestor to oscines was unlikely to mimic sounds, suggesting that song learning evolved with mechanisms to constrain learning to conspecific models. Mimicry then evolved repeatedly within the songbird clade, either through relaxation of constraints on conspecific learning or through selection for active vocal mimicry. Vocal mimicry is likely ancestral in only a handful of clades, and we detect many instances of independent origins of mimicry. Our analysis underscores the liability of vocal mimicry in songbirds, and highlights the evolutionary flexibility of song learning mechanisms.Entities:
Keywords: oscine; songbird; vocal imitation; vocal learning; vocal mimicry
Year: 2018 PMID: 30283692 PMCID: PMC6121844 DOI: 10.1002/evl3.62
Source DB: PubMed Journal: Evol Lett ISSN: 2056-3744
Figure 1Phylogenetic tree of songbirds. (A) Presence of mimicry overlaid on phylogeny. Mimicry is represented by white marks in the dark ring. (B) Stochastic character mapping of estimated emergence and loss of mimetic ability. Mimicry is represented in red. Vocal mimicry evolved independently at least 237 times and was lost at least 52 times.
Proportion of mimics on each continent
| Region | Total oscine species | Number of flexible mimics (proportion of total) | Number of all mimics (proportion of total) |
|---|---|---|---|
| North America | 762 | 54 (0.071) | 85 ( |
| Europe | 215 | 68 ( | 129 ( |
| Australasia | 778 | 58 (0.075) | 87 ( |
| Asia | 2004 | 90 (0.045) | 137 (0.068) |
| Africa | 1442 | 132 (0.092) | 222 ( |
| South America | 825 | 32 (0.039) | 61 (0.074) |
| Central America | 531 | 26 (0.049) | 41 (0.077) |
Probability of mimicry as the ancestral trait in oscines based on classification scheme
| Dataset | Classifications scored as mimic | Number of mimics | Total number of species | Probability of ancestral mimicry |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flexible mimics | Flexible | 339 | 4410 | 0.129 ± 0.002 |
| All mimics | Flexible, incidental, unknown | 557 | 4410 | 0.220 ± 0.002 |
| Regional | Flexible | 339 | 817 | 0.167 ± 0.39 |
| Unrestricted | Flexible | 339 | 3550 | 0.185 ± 0.003 |
Probabilities of the presence of vocal mimicry in the ancestor of select songbird families
| Oscine family | Species (in analysis) | Species (total) | Proportion of species (in analysis) | Mimic species (flexible) | Proportion flexible mimic (of total) | Mimic species (all) | Proportion all mimic (total) | Probability ancestor was mimic (flexible) | Probability ancestor was mimic (all) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atrichornithidae | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0.5 | 2 | 1 | 0.574 ± 0.005 | 0.92 ± 0.003 |
| Dicruridae | 21 | 25 | 0.84 | 13 | 0.52 | 17 | 0.68 | 0.854 ± 0.006 | 0.831 ± 0.005 |
| Menuridae | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0.949 ± 0.002 | 0.926 ± 0.003 |
| Mimidae | 34 | 34 | 1 | 16 | 0.47 | 17 | 0.5 | 0.742 ± 0.004 | 0.635 ± 0.003 |
| Nicatoridae | 3 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 0.67 | 2 | 0.67 | 0.417 ± 0.007 | 0.48 ± 0.006 |
| Ptilonorhynchidae | 17 | 20 | 0.85 | 14 | 0.7 | 17 | 0.85 | 0.576 ± 0.008 | 0.748 ± 0.005 |