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Urban Habitats Impact The Song And Reproductive Success Of A Migratory Bird, The Gray Catbird (Dumetella Carolinensis), Sasha Ewing
Masters Theses, 2020-current
Urban environments are relatively recent on an evolutionary timescale, and, as such, they create novel selection pressures that may influence fitness and mate choice. Many ecologically significant factors change with increasing levels of urbanization, such as increasing anthropogenic noise, increasing impervious surface, and decreasing forest cover. There is growing empirical evidence that anthropogenic noise affects features of birdsong and, separately, that avian nesting success varies across an urban gradient, but rarely do studies examine both – a necessary step to elucidate the evolutionary potential of these novel pressures. I investigated song features, body morphometrics, and reproductive success in male gray …
Is Immediate Flexibility Present In A Vocal Mimic, The Gray Catbird (Dumetella Carolinensis), Across An Urban Gradient?, Shannon K. Eppert
Is Immediate Flexibility Present In A Vocal Mimic, The Gray Catbird (Dumetella Carolinensis), Across An Urban Gradient?, Shannon K. Eppert
Masters Theses, 2020-current
Increasing urbanization has increased anthropogenic noise levels near developed areas. Urban noise is high amplitude and low-frequency, and these frequencies can overlap with the signals animals use to communicate, including bird songs. Many urban birds sing higher minimum frequencies in urban areas, which avoids some masking by noise, but the mechanism behind this difference is not well understood. Immediate flexibility is the ability to alter song in real-time in the presence of sudden noise, allowing for avoidance of masking and better signal transmission. I investigated if male catbirds increased signal transmission in the presence of anthropogenic versus high-frequency noise playback …