Ornithology Commons^™

Origin And Maintenance Of The Andean Bird Fauna, Elkin A. Tenorio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The origin and maintenance of the tropical montane diversity have been evaluated over multiple decades using various techniques and perspectives. Despite major progress in understanding phylogenetic relationships, diversification patterns, distributional data, and general ecology in the Andean biota, large gaps in our understanding remain, particularly in the synthesis across scales. To fill these gaps, I aimed to explore patterns and processes that underlie species diversification in birds of the tropical Andes of South America by combining different approaches using phenotypic, phylogenetic, and genomic data in multiple temporal and spatial scales.

In the first chapter, I examined the macroevolutionary patterns of …

Exploring The Role Of Ecological Traits In Shaping Spatial Patterns Of Genetic Diversity, Rilquer Mascarenhas Da Silva

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of comparative phylogeography aims at uncovering common underlying causes for shared patterns of diversity and diversification at the population level. However, it is now widely accepted that intraspecific genetic diversity patterns can differ considerably across co-occurring taxa due to ecological processes acting at the population level (and influencing individual movement and abundance). To model the processes underlying lineage diversification and demographic shifts in response to environmental changes, phylogeographers and population geneticists are now faced with the challenge of incorporating measurements of species ecological traits into their molecular studies. This dissertation aimed at investigating how different types of ecological …

The Sub-Syllabic Symphonies Of Self-Learning: How Do Zebra Finches Sing Them?, Abiesha Abiola Budiman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Learning is a lifelong journey, where the mind and muscle dance to a tune of memory and motion. It begins at infancy and continues throughout life, encompassing everything from singing to achieving peak performance in sports. Complex motor skills involve multiple components and require coordination of several muscles. Humans and animals are extremely adept at learning complex motor skills on their own. However, we do not completely understand how self-directed learning works. One group of animals used to observe self-directed learning are songbirds. Zebra finches, Taeniopygia guttata, are one of the most studied songbird species due to their well-defined …

Variability In Associations Among Seabirds And Marine Mammals: Causes And Consequences, Samantha A. Monier

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Marine predators today face multifaceted stressors from changing climate to changing prey availability, and these changes are occurring at unprecedented speeds. Any alteration to a species’ environment has the potential to disrupt social networks and thus, how animals obtain and transfer information. Interspecific social interactions in the form of local enhancement and facilitation are a critical, but not yet well-understood, component of seabird foraging; of immediate concern is that anthropogenic changes may be altering the quantity and quality of positive species interactions, with consequences for the species involved.

While we know these interactions are not immutable, less is known about …

Avian Symbionts Of Sulawesi: Identifying And Correlating Malaria Parasites And The Microbiome In Communities Of Endemic Avian Hosts, Rachael Joakim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the evolution of complex organisms, there have been communities of symbionts inhabiting them. Thanks to the development of parallel sequencing techniques, DNA of entire microbial communities can be sequenced from a single sample. Some microbes can be parasitic in nature, such as Haemosporida, an order of eukaryotes causing malaria. While most symbionts form a more commensal host relationship in wild systems, host-symbiont dynamics can vary in pathogenicity based on biotic and abiotic factors. In vertebrates, microbial communities in the gut play a major role in host function, including immune responses to Haemosporida. Though this relationship is most commonly explored …

Statistical And Biological Analyses Of Acoustic Signals In Estrildid Finches, Moises Rivera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Acoustic communication is a process that involves auditory perception and signal processing. Discrimination and recognition further require cognitive processes and supporting mechanisms in order to successfully identify and appropriately respond to signal senders. Although acoustic communication is common across birds, classical research has largely disregarded the perceptual abilities of perinatal altricial taxa. Chapter 1 reviews the literature of perinatal acoustic stimulation in birds, highlighting the disproportionate focus on precocial birds (e.g., chickens, ducks, quails). The long-held belief that altricial birds were incapable of acoustic perception in ovo was only recently overturned, as researchers began to find behavioral and physiological evidence …

Eavesdropping On Animals: Can Bioacoustics Help Save Species?, Zoe Grueskin

Capstones

Around the world, scientists are using sound to study the natural world in a growing field called bioacoustics. Researchers are eavesdropping on frogs and fish, elephants and earthworms, and many hope what they hear can inform and inspire conservation action around the world. From the field’s auspicious beginning with accidentally-recorded whales, to researchers today listening to locations as diverse as the Arctic seafloor and India’s Western Ghats mountain range, this capstone project explores the potential — and limitations — of conservation bioacoustics. Read the story, see photos and listen to audio pieces featuring three bioacousticians and their field recordings here: …

The Role Of Nest Location On The Reproductive Success Of Piping Plovers Breeding At Rockaway Beach, New York, Clara I.D. Arndtsen

Theses and Dissertations

The study’s goal was to learn what aspects of the piping plover experience affect reproductive outcomes at Rockaway Beach Endangered Species Nesting Area. Nest location was found to help predict reproductive success. Nests further from American oystercatcher nests were likely to fledge more chicks. Reproductive success was low in 2021.

Vertebrate Scavenger Diversity And Ecosystem Services Along An Elevational Gradient In Central Nepal, Aishwarya Bhattacharjee

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A growing number of studies recognize the ecological significance of vertebrate scavengers, and several species belonging to this diverse, functional guild are of high conservation importance around the globe. Studies on taxonomic and functional components of biodiversity often use elevation gradients to comprehensively examine patterns and drivers across multiple spatial scales. Yet, there are relatively few elevational studies on large vertebrates or multi-taxa guilds, and the related variation of their ecosystem services. In particular, scavenger research has largely focused on local-scale studies or regional/global comparisons of local-scale investigations. Moreover, these studies primarily consider taxonomic community characteristics and the patterns of …

Tracing The Human-Avian Relationship In Iceland, Melanie Sua

Theses and Dissertations

An in-depth investigation explores the history of birds in Iceland and the interaction between birds and humans from the 9th through the 19th century, with the help of archaeological evidence, traditional and historical materials.

The Whelming Sea, Sean Hanley

Theses and Dissertations

The Whelming Sea is a thirty-minute experimental documentary that reveals the moments of entanglement between three animals living along the Mid-Atlantic shoreline; curious humans, spawning horseshoe crabs, and migratory shorebirds. Working from the realm of multispecies ethnography, the film shifts the subjective positioning of the viewer between the human and nonhuman to suggest the complexity of our enmeshed experience. In the face of this current era of mass extinction, the film explores the limitations and poetic possibilities of scientific encounters with the lives of others.

Stabilizing Forces In Acoustic Cultural Evolution: Comparing Humans And Birds, Daniel C. Mann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Learned acoustic communication systems, like birdsong and spoken human language, can be described from two seemingly contradictory perspectives. On one hand, learned acoustic communication systems can be remarkably consistent. Substantive and descriptive generalizations can be made which hold for a majority of populations within a species. On the other hand, learned acoustic communication systems are often highly variable. The degree of variation is often so great that few, if any, substantive generalizations hold for all populations in a species.

Within my dissertation, I explore the interplay of variation and uniformity in three vocal learning species: budgerigars (Melopsittacus undulatus), …

Cognitive Models Of Defense Behaviors In Hosts Of Brood Parasites, Thomas J. Manna

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Social parasites exploit the behavioral repertoire of their hosts for their own benefit, thereby reducing host reproductive success. Whether and how hosts respond to prevent, reduce, or eliminate the costs of parasitism requires the characterization of host cognitive algorithms in response to parasites. In this dissertation, I review the suite of the defense behaviors and decision rules of hosts targeted by avian and insect brood parasites, and present new experimental data on the detection of parasitism through the visual system of focal host species. In Chapter 1, I review extensive data already accumulated to isolate the cognitive mechanisms used by …

Use Of Plumage And Gular Pouch Color To Evaluate Condition Of Oil Spill Rehabilitated California Brown Pelicans (Pelecanus Occidentalis Californicus) Post-Release, Deborah L. Jaques, Kyra L. Mills, Barton G. Selby, Richard R. Veit, Michael H. Ziccardi

Publications and Research

Sublethal effects of oil spills may dampen seabird rehabilitation success due to lingering negative impacts of contamination and stress on reproduction and long-term survival. These effects can be difficult to measure while birds are in care as well as once birds are released. Expression of sexually selected traits that are sensitive to condition can provide information on physiological status of birds. We evaluated plumage molt and gular pouch skin color of California brown pelicans (Pelecanus occidentalis californicus) following oil contamination and rehabilitation to test for differences between previously oiled and rehabilitated (post-spill) and presumably uncontaminated pelicans. Post-spill pelicans released with …

Effects Of Urbanization On The Foraging Ecology And Microbiota Of The Generalist Seabird Larus Argentatus, Matthew Fuirst, Richard R. Veit, Megan Hahn, Nolwenn Dheilly, Lesley H. Thorne

Publications and Research

Larus gull species have proven adaptable to urbanization and due to their generalist feeding behaviors, they provide useful opportunities to study how urban environments impact foraging behavior and host-associated microbiota. We evaluated how urbanization influenced the foraging behavior and microbiome characteristics of breeding herring gulls (Larus argentatus) at three different colonies on the east coast of the United States. Study colonies represented high, medium and low degrees of urbanization, respectively. At all colonies, gulls frequently foraged at landfills and in other urban environments, but both the use of urban environments and gull foraging metrics differed with the degree of urbanization. …

Social Influences On Songbird Behavior: From Song Learning To Motion Coordination, Iva Ljubičić

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Social animals learn during development how to integrate successfully into their group. How do social interactions combine to maintain group cohesion? We first review how social environments can influence the development of vocal learners, such as songbirds and humans (Chapter 1). To bypass the complexity of natural social interactions and gain experimental control, we developed Virtual Social Environments, surrounding the bird with videos of manipulated playbacks. This way we were able to design sensory and social scenarios and test how social zebra finches adjust their behavior (Chapters 2 & 3). A serious challenge is that the color output of a …

Slave To The Rhythm: Variation In The Acoustic Signaling Of Picoides Woodpeckers, Alex Baer

Theses and Dissertations

We explored rhythmic variation in acoustic signals by geography across four species of Picoides woodpeckers. We hypothesized that there would be an effect of geographic location on the cadence of drums and rattle-type calls. No significant effect was observed. However, drum cadence was observed to significantly impact conspecific recognition in playbacks.

Factors Of Annual Reproductive Success In North American Barn Swallows (Hirundo Rustica Erythrogaster) In Shared Greenspace, Joseph Czeisel

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined three metrics related to barn swallow reproductive success in shared greenspace. Earlier nesting dates were positively related to reproductive output and survival rate. Anthropogenic disturbance was not found to influence productivity. The distance of nests inside structures predicted survival rate. The monitoring of additional seasons is recommended.

Evaluating Behavioral Responses Of Nesting Lesser Snow Geese To Unmanned Aircraft Surveys, Andrew Barnas, Robert Newman, Christopher J. Felege, Michael P. Corcoran, Samuel D. Hervey, Tanner J. Stechmann, Robert F. Rockwell, Susan N. Ellis-Felege

Publications and Research

Unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) are relatively new technologies gaining popularity among wildlife biologists. As with any new tool in wildlife science, operating protocols must be developed through rigorous protocol testing. Few studies have been conducted that quantify the impacts UAS may have on unhabituated individuals in the wild using standard aerial survey protocols. We evaluated impacts of unmanned surveys by measuring UAS-induced behavioral responses during the nesting phase of lesser snow geese (Anser caerulescens caerulescens) in Wapusk National Park, Manitoba, Canada. We conducted surveys with a fixed-wing Trimble UX5 and monitored behavioral changes via discreet surveillance cameras at 25 nests. …

Songbirds Work Around Computational Complexity By Learning Song Vocabulary Independently Of Sequence, Dina Lipkind, Anja T. Zai, Alexander Hanuschkin, Gary F. Marcus, Ofer Tchernichovski, Richard H.R. Hahnloser

Publications and Research

While acquiring motor skills, animals transform their plastic motor sequences to match desired targets. However, because both the structure and temporal position of individual gestures are adjustable, the number of possible motor transformations increases exponentially with sequence length. Identifying the optimal transformation towards a given target is therefore a computationally intractable problem. Here we show an evolutionary workaround for reducing the computational complexity of song learning in zebra finches. We prompt juveniles to modify syllable phonology and sequence in a learned song to match a newly introduced target song. Surprisingly, juveniles match each syllable to the most spectrally similar sound …

Positive Interactions Among Foraging Seabirds, Marine Mammals And Fishes And Implications For Their Conservation, Richard R. Veit, Nancy M. Harrison

Publications and Research

There is increasing recognition of the importance of “positive interactions” among species in structuring communities. For seabirds, an important kind of positive interaction is the use of birds of the same species, birds of other species, and other marine predators such as cetaceans, seals and fishes as cues to the presence of prey. The process by which a single bird uses, say, a feeding flock of birds as a cue to the presence of prey is called “local enhancement” or “facilitation.” There are subtly different uses of each of these terms, but the issue we address here is the ubiquity …

Studying The Mechanisms Of Developmental Vocal Learning And Adult Vocal Performance In Zebra Finches Through Lentiviral Injection, Zhimin Shi, Ofer Tchernichovski, Xiaoching Li

Publications and Research

Here we provide a detailed step-by-step protocol for using lentivirus to manipulate miRNA expression in Area X of juvenile zebra finches and for analyzing the consequences on song learning and song performance. This protocol has four parts: 1) making the lentiviral construct to overexpress miRNA miR-9; 2) packaging the lentiviral vector; 3) stereotaxic injection of the lentivirus into Area X of juvenile zebra finches; 4) analysis of song learning and song performance in juvenile and adult zebra finches. These methods complement the methods employed in recent works that showed changing FoxP2 gene expression in Area X with lentivirus or adeno-associated …

Sexual Dimorphism In Striatal Dopaminergic Responses Promotes Monogamy In Social Songbirds, Kirill Tokarev, Julia Hyland Bruno, Iva Ljubicic, Paresh J. Kothari, Santosh A. Helekar, Ofer Tchernichovski, Henning U. Voss

Publications and Research

In many songbird species, males sing to attract females and repel rivals. How can gregarious, non-territorial songbirds such as zebra finches, where females have access to numerous males, sustain monogamy? We found that the dopaminergic reward circuitry of zebra finches can simultaneously promote social cohesion and breeding boundaries. Surprisingly, in unmated males but not in females, striatal dopamine neurotransmission was elevated after hearing songs. Behaviorally too, unmated males but not females persistently exchanged mild punishments in return for songs. Song reinforcement diminished when dopamine receptors were blocked. In females, we observed song reinforcement exclusively to the mate’s song, although their …

Egg Discrimination Along A Gradient Of Natural Variation In Eggshell Coloration, Daniel Hanley, Tomáš Grim, Branislav Igic, Peter Samaš, Analía V. López, Matthew D. Shawkey, Mark E. Hauber

Publications and Research

Accurate recognition of salient cues is critical for adaptive responses, but the underlying sensory and cognitive processes are often poorly understood. For example, hosts of avian brood parasites have long been assumed to reject foreign eggs from their nests based on the total degree of dissimilarity in colour to their own eggs, regardless of the foreign eggs’ colours. We tested hosts’ responses to gradients of natural (blue-green to brown) and artificial (green to purple) egg colours, and demonstrate that hosts base rejection decisions on both the direction and degree of colour dissimilarity along the natural, but not artificial, gradient of …

Statistical Learning In Songbirds: From Self-Tutoring To Song Culture, Olga Fehér, Iva Ljubičić, Kenta Suzuki, Kazuo Okanoya, Ofer Tchernichovski

Publications and Research

At the onset of vocal development, both songbirds and humans produce variable vocal babbling with broadly distributed acoustic features. Over development, these vocalizations differentiate into the well-defined, categorical signals that characterize adult vocal behaviour. A broadly distributed signal is ideal for vocal exploration, that is, for matching vocal production to the statistics of the sensory input. The developmental transition to categorical signals is a gradual process during which the vocal output becomes differentiated and stable. But does it require categorical input?We trained juvenile zebra finches with playbacks of their own developing song, produced just a few moments earlier, updated continuously …

The Role Of Individual Cognitive And Behavioral Ontogeny In Organization And Evolution Of Social Systems, Andrew G. Fulmer

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Exploration and explanation of the relationship between individual variation in behavior and the composition and adaptive success of social groups or populations are crucial problems in the fields of behavioral ecology, ethology, and comparative psychology. These questions have been the subject of a longstanding discussion at both the proximate and ultimate levels of inquiry. Adaptive mechanisms explaining social decision making, both in terms of affiliative and competitive partner choices, are at the center of such discussions. Inclusive fitness, kin-selection, handicap or prestige, risk seeking and risk avoiding strategies, pay-to-stay/reward principles, as well as other theories have been proposed and supported …

Temporal Regularity Increases With Repertoire Complexity In The Australian Pied Butcherbird’S Song, Eathan Janney, Hollis Taylor, Constance Scharff, David Rothenberg, Lucas C. Parra, Ofer Tchernichovski

Publications and Research

Music maintains a characteristic balance between repetition and novelty. Here, we report a similar balance in singing performances of free-living Australian pied butcherbirds. Their songs include many phrase types. The more phrase types in a bird’s repertoire, the more diverse the singing performance can be. However, without sufficient temporal organization, avian listeners may find diverse singing performances difficult to perceive and memorize. We tested for a correlation between the complexity of song repertoire and the temporal regularity of singing performance. We found that different phrase types often share motifs (notes or stereotyped groups of notes). These shared motifs reappeared in …

Molecular Tracking Of Individual Host Use In The Shiny Cowbird – A Generalist Brood Parasite, Ma Alicia De La Colina, Mark E. Hauber, Bill M. Strausberger, Juan Carlos Reboreda, Bettina Mahler

Publications and Research

Generalist parasites exploit multiple host species at the population level, but the individual parasite’s strategy may be either itself a generalist or a specialist pattern of host species use. Here, we studied the relationship between host availability and host use in the individual parasitism patterns of the Shiny Cowbird Molothrus bonariensis, a generalist avian obligate brood parasite that parasitizes an extreme range of hosts. Using five microsatellite markers and an 1120-bp fragment of the mtDNA control region, we reconstructed full-sibling groups from 359 cowbird eggs and chicks found in nests of the two most frequent hosts in our study area, …

Finding The Beat: From Socially Coordinated Vocalizations In Songbirds To Rhythmic Entrainment In Humans, Jonathan I. Benichov, Eitan Globerson, Ofer Tchernichovski

Publications and Research

Humans and oscine songbirds share the rare capacity for vocal learning. Songbirds have the ability to acquire songs and calls of various rhythms through imitation. In several species, birds can even coordinate the timing of their vocalizations with other individuals in duets that are synchronized with millisecond-accuracy. It is not known, however, if songbirds can perceive rhythms holistically nor if they are capable of spontaneous entrainment to complex rhythms, in a manner similar to humans. Here we review emerging evidence from studies of rhythm generation and vocal coordination across songbirds and humans. In particular, recently developed experimental methods have revealed …

Dynamic Egg Color Mimicry, Daniel Hanley, Michael Sulc, Patricia L. R. Brennan, Mark E. Hauber, Tomas Grim, Marcel Honza

Publications and Research

Evolutionary hypotheses regarding the function of eggshell phenotypes, from solar protection through mimicry, have implicitly assumed that eggshell appearance remains static throughout the laying and incubation periods. However, recent research demonstrates that egg coloration changes over relatively short, biologically relevant timescales. Here, we provide the first evidence that such changes impact brood parasite–host eggshell color mimicry during the incubation stage. First, we use long-term data to establish how rapidly the Acrocephalus arundinaceus Linnaeus (great reed warbler) responded to natural parasitic eggs laid by the Cuculus canorus Linnaeus (common cuckoo). Most hosts rejected parasitic eggs just prior to clutch completion, but …