Song Transmission Research Articles

Vibratory signals of the harlequin bug and their transmission through plants

Abstract. Males of the harlequin bug, Murgantia histrionica (Hahn), produce five different vibrational songs, whereas females produce one song. Songs differ from those of other stink bugs primarily in their species‐specific temporal characteristics. The broad band male courtship songs of M. histrionica are achieved by a combination of different frequency modulated and/or narrow band subunits, with several higher harmonic frequencies. Males rather than females initiate substrate‐borne vibrational communication, and the longer‐range calling songs found typically in other pentatomid species are lacking. Interindividual differences in song temporal and spectral characteristics are discussed. Transmission of vibrational songs through a cabbage head is more efficient along veins than along lamina. Attenuation of signals transmitted through veins is low and similar to that reported previously for plant stalks. On the leaf vein, distances between peak amplitude minima and maxima are different for the dominant and subdominant frequencies. At any distance from the vibration source, a different relationship between spectral peak amplitudes can be recorded. Resolution of these differences, together with velocity differences between signals recorded on the vein and lamina, may help small stink bugs to estimate distance and to locate each other on a plant.

The Cartographic Heritage of the Lakota Sioux

This article serves as an introduction to traditional cartographic tools and techniques of the Lakota Sioux people of the northern Great Plains. The study reveals that the Lakota created maps and utilized other cartographic tools that, while not following a western system of coordinates, grids, and scales, were nonetheless accurate instruments for navigation to important routes, landmarks, hunting grounds, and sacred sites. The tools and techniques utilized included oral transmission of cartographic data, stories and songs in the oral tradition, stellar cartography, hide maps, petroglyphs, earth scratchings, and various other physical and spiritual markers.

Transmission of Archaic Greek Sympotic Songs: From Lesbos to Alexandria

Previous articleNext article No AccessTransmission of Archaic Greek Sympotic Songs: From Lesbos to AlexandriaGregory NagyGregory Nagy Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Critical Inquiry Volume 31, Number 1Autumn 2004 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/427301 Views: 91Total views on this site Citations: 8Citations are reported from Crossref © 2004 by The University of Chicago.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Bibliography, (May 2022): 526–573.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119122661.biblioReviel Netz Scale, Space and Canon in Ancient Literary Culture, 36 (Feb 2020).https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108686945Ippokratis Kantzios Memory and Forgetfulness in Alcaeus, Classical Philology 114, no.33 (Jun 2019): 322–343.https://doi.org/10.1086/703683Peter J. Miller A Sympotic Self: Instruction through Inebriation in Anacreon, Mouseion 15, no.11 (Mar 2018): 131–147.https://doi.org/10.3138/mous.15.1.9Alexander Fantalkin, Ephraim Lytle Alcaeus and Antimenidas: Reassessing the Evidence for Greek Mercenaries in the Neo-Babylonian Army, Klio 98, no.11 (Jun 2016): 90–117.https://doi.org/10.1515/klio-2016-0002Richard P. Martin Festivals, Symposia, and the Performance of Greek Poetry, (May 2015): 15–30.https://doi.org/10.1002/9781119009795.ch1Richard J. Parmentier Anthropological Encounters of a Semiotic Kind, Recherches sémiotiques 32, no.1-2-31-2-3 (Dec 2014): 187–199.https://doi.org/10.7202/1027778ar Natasha Bershadsky The Unbreakable Shield: Thematics of Sakos and Aspis, Classical Philology 105, no.11 (Jul 2015): 1–24.https://doi.org/10.1086/651250

Women, poetry and song in eighteenth-century Lowland Scotland

An important aspect of eighteenth-century Scottish culture was its transitional, interactive nature in relation to oral and written forms in literature and music. Its song culture, in which women played a primary role, is of particular significance. Scottish academic studies of the period, however, are still to a large extent male oriented in their focus and word and print based. This article seeks to draw attention to the marginalisation of both the song culture and the women of the period through a discussion of poetry and song transmission by a representative selection of women in eighteenth-century Lowland Scotland. It argues that “listening to the women” in poetry and song not only means bringing back into the eighteenth-century world picture the place of song alongside Enlightenment philosophy, historical studies and the printed poetic forms of Ramsay, Fergusson and Burns. It also means bringing what Virginia Woolf called “women's values” into our understanding of this important historical period.

Song learning by chaffinches: how accurate, and from where?

Geographical variation in song is a common feature of populations of territorial songbirds. However, the factors responsible for the levels and patterns of variation have not been examined in detail. We measured geographical variation of songs in chaffinches, Fringilla coelebs, in samples from five locations in Scotland, U.K. We found substantial variation in the level of song sharing between locations. It was highest in isolated island areas and in a recently populated area. By comparing our data with a spatial simulation model designed to mimic the different areas, we calculated estimates of cultural mutation that ranged between 0.001 and 0.03, with a maximum possible value of 0.05, and found that chaffinches had a significant preference for learning songs not from immediate neighbours, but from males about 500m away. We discuss the implications of these findings for the process and function of cultural transmission of song in the chaffinch. Copyright 2003 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd on behalf of The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour.

Why birds sing at dawn: the role of consistent song transmission

The dawn chorus is a widely observed phenomenon. One of the common, but inadequately studied, explanations for the occurrence of the dawn chorus is based on the rationale that atmospheric turbulence, which impairs acoustic communication, is least at dawn, and thus singing at dawn in some way maximizes signal performance. To investigate what possible acoustic benefit is gained through singing at dawn, we transmitted Swamp Sparrow Melospiza georgiana and White‐throated Sparrow Zonotrichia albicollis song through open grassland and closed forest both at dawn and at midday. The transmitted songs were re‐recorded at four distances from 25 to 100 m. Our results show that the mean overall absolute transmission quality of the signals was not significantly better at dawn than at midday. However, the signal transmission quality was significantly more consistent at dawn than at midday. Also, in general, signal transmission quality decreased with increasing distance. Variability in the transmission quality increased with distance for the White‐throated Sparrow song, but not for the Swamp Sparrow song. Consistency in signal transmission quality is a factor that, arguably, is crucial for the identity function of song. This study strongly supports the acoustic transmission hypothesis as an explanation for the existence of the dawn chorus while the demonstration of variability as a key factor in singing at dawn is novel.

Observations on a Case Study of Song Transmission and Preservation in Two Aboriginal Communities: Dilemmas of a 'Neo-Colonialist' in the Field

Within a western tradition of music education research there is an expectation that a research project will have focussed aims, regardless of the research paradigm from which it emanates. This paper discusses the dilemma of a researcher when confronted with a disparity between her carefully formulated research aims and the needs of the communities within which her research project was implemented. These issues are discussed in relation to the initial stages of a research project which is investigating the music, movement and language characteristics, cross-cultural transmission and effects of the media on the musical play of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal children in two small towns in central Australia.

Temporal and geographical variation in songs of humpback whales, Megaptera novaeangliae: synchronous change in Hawaiian and Mexican breeding assemblages

Humpback whale song, a male breeding display, shows a remarkable degree of similarity among distant breeding assemblages, despite constant progressive change. It has been hypothesized that whales maintain continuity through cultural transmission via migratory movements of males. We examined songs of whales breeding off Hawaii and Mexico to determine whether they changed similarly in both areas during the course of a breeding season. Songs recorded off Kauai, Hawaii (11 individuals) and Isla Socorro, Mexico (13 individuals) during winter and spring of 1991, were compared qualitatively and quantitatively. We measured 44 acoustic variables describing all known levels of song structure for each singer and we grouped these variables into six categories. We used two-factor analyses of variance to assess change across the season in each area, comparing the two regions and two 3-week periods (January/February and April). Twenty-seven variables changed significantly during the 12-week study in at least one area. Variables within categories displayed similar trends of change. Time and frequency characteristics describing the structure of song elements (units and phrases) changed synchronously in each area, with 21 of 25 variables displaying significant differences between periods and no interaction with region. Structures of song patterns, as defined by frequency of occurrence and number of unit and phrase types, changed differently in each area, with five of 12 variables indicating a significant interaction between region and period. Our results may suggest cultural transmission during the season, since many variables changed in similar manners. We propose an alternative hypothesis, that whales may be predisposed to gradually change certain features of song independently of cultural influences; change of structural elements may be governed by a discrete set of rules, or according to an innate template. Therefore, continuity of song patterns across the ocean basin may be due to a combination of mechanisms, only partially involving cultural transmission. We assess these hypotheses in relation to humpback whale behaviour and population structure, and cultural transmission and evolution of avian song.

Song transmission and auditory perception of distance in wood warblers (Parulinae)

The influence of breeding habitat on the evolution of song structure was examined in four wood warbler species of the sub-family Parulinae. The effects of song degradation on the ability of territorial paruline males to estimate distance by means of acoustic cues was also investigated. Song transmission characteristics of paruline breeding habitats were compared in southeastern Ontario, Canada; songs native to the habitat in which they were broadcast did not degrade less than foreign songs. The response of territorial paruline males to playback of ‘near’ (undegraded) and ‘far’ (degraded) conspecific songs broadcast from the same position within the territory at the same amplitude were then compared. Males responded to near songs as they would to a conspecific territorial intruder and with less intensity to far songs, suggesting that males may use cues from song degradation to estimate distance to vocal conspecifics. Our results from transmission and playback experiments are discussed with respect to the ranging hypothesis, which proposes that selection should favour males that structure songs to minimize their degradation, so that songs function to disrupt or intimidate rivals by providing unreliable distance cues.

Habitat Associations of Song Characteristics in Phylloscopus and Hippolais Warblers

AisTRACT.--Bird-song functions, such as mate attraction, species recognition, and territory defense, are closely linked to individual fitness. Thus, habitat characteristics that affect song transmission and degradation should exert a strong influence on the evolution of song attributes. Whereas different acoustic environments may influence the evolution of song characteristics, factors such as body size and evolutionary history of taxa are expected to constrain the amount of environmental variation in song properties. In the present study, we controlled for phylogeny and examined the effects of body mass and habitat structure on variation in song structure of 30 taxa of Phylloscopus and Hippolais warblers, which are a closely related group of birds that occupy a wide variety of habitats and show high variation in vocalizations. Habitat structure was strongly correlated with temporal characteristics of songs but not with most of the frequency-related attributes that we measured. Only the highest frequencies of songs varied with habitat structure. As predicted, species occupying closed habitats avoided the use of rapidly modulated signals and had song structures that minimized reverberation. Body mass covaried significantly with most of the song attributes. Smaller species used higher frequencies and had more notes in their songs compared with larger species. Received 9 May 1996, accepted 26 July 1996.

CULTURAL INHERITANCE OF SONG AND ITS ROLE IN THE EVOLUTION OF DARWIN'S FINCHES.

Songs of Darwin's finches were studied on the Galápagos Island of Daphne Major from 1976 to 1995. A single, structurally simple, and unvarying song is sung throughout life by each male of the two common species, Geospiza fortis (medium ground finch) and G. scandens (cactus finch). Songs of the two species differ strongly in quantitative features, and individual variation among males is much broader in G. fortis than in G. scandens. Although there are exceptions, songs of sons strongly resemble the songs of their fathers. They also resemble the songs of their paternal grandfathers, but not their maternal grandfathers, indicating that they are culturally inherited and not genetically inherited. Female G. fortis display a tendency to avoid mating with males that sing the same type of song as their father. They also avoid mating with males that sing heterospecific song, with very rare exceptions. Thus song, an evolving, culturally inherited trait, is an important factor in species recognition and mate choice. It constrains the mating of females to conspecifics, even when there is no genetic penalty to interbreeding, and thus may play a crucial role in species formation by promoting genetic isolation on secondary contact. The barrier is leaky in that occasional errors in song transmission result in misimprinting, which leads to a low incidence of hybridization and introgression. Introgression slows the rate of postzygotic isolation, but can produce individuals in novel genetic and morphological space that can provide the starting point of a new evolutionary trajectory.

Song copying and cultural transmission in indigo buntings

Abstract. First-year male indigo buntings, Passerina cyanea, copy the song of a neighbouring male during their first breeding season. To determine whether they assess their neighbours and copy selectively the songs of certain males, the following predictions were made from hypotheses of assessment and socially biased learning: (1) first-year males assess a neighbour and copy his song if he meets a minimum standard; (2) first-year males prospectively assess the breeding success and survival of several neighbours, then copy the song of one that has a high breeding success, and (3) first-year males sample their neighbourhood for a common song and conform to it. The 'song model' was identified and the male's breeding success determined in 580 cases of cultural transmission. More males than expected at random had either zero or more than two other males copy their song. One predictor of song transmission by potential 'models' was age (first-year or adult), a trait assessable by plumage colour. Adult males were more likely to transmit their song than were first-year males. In one population the bluer first-year males were more likely to be copied than were the browner first-year males. Also, a male that arrived early in the breeding season was more likely than a later arrival to be copied. The first-year males in a dense neighbourhood were more likely to copy a neighbour's song, but they did not generally conform to the most common song in their area. Although time of arrival and a minimal standard of plumage and behaviour may explain some variation between males in cultural success, much of the variation was unexplained. Many adults were not copied, because of the age structure of the population with more adults than first-year males. Also, many males that had a successful breeding season were not copied, perhaps because their success was unpredictable early in the season when most first-year males acquire a local song.

Trouble in the Mines: A History in Song and Story by Women of Appalachia

Nevertheless, through the oral transmission of songs and stories, women have left an indelible mark on their culture, giving pleasure, spiritual sustenance, and emotional satisfaction to family and community. The store of folklore they have handed down provides us with insight into how people view their own history, traditions, and the moral codes by which they live. I focus here on one small corner of this vast subject: the songs composed by two generations of women from the coal mining areas of Appalachia. Aunt Molly Jackson, her sister Sarah Ogan Gunning, and Florence Reece chronicled the struggle for unionization during the 1920s and 1930s. Later, in the sixties and seventies, Hazel Dickens expanded that repertoire to include feminist issues. There is a rich lode of American industrial folklore composed by women in the Southern Appalachian mountains. It can be attributed in part to a combination of cultural, economic, historical, and psycho-

A Sexual-Selection Model for the Evolution of Imitative Learning of Song in Polygynous Birds

Although normal song development in oscines depends on imitative learning, it presumably was innately determined (directly inherited, nonmodifiable) in the ancestral species. Evolution of imitative song from innate song is investigated theoretically, using a genetic model of sexual selection by female choice in a polygynous population. Since song is usually limited to sexually mature males and since females exhibited preferences with respect to various aspects of song, sexual selection may well have been involved. Specifically, it is assumed that imitative learning may give rise to a variant song that some females prefer over innate song and also that female preference is not affected by early song experience. However, the assumption of polygyny restricts the applicability of the results obtained here, since most bird species are monogamous. It is shown that the coevolution of imitative song and female preference from low initial frequencies requires a strong preference. The available data, although not of direct relevance, suggest that such strong preference may sometimes occur. When females that show preference are more common than those that mate indiscriminately, a twofold difference in preference may still be necessary for imitative song to be favored. If female preference is assumed to be fixed, the effect of various modes of song transmission can be compared. It is shown that transmission from father to son is critical and must be efficient, unless compensated for by strong female preference. Moreover, initial increase of imitative song is less likely to occur if paternal song is forgotten and replaced by a new song learned from another adult male. These predictions may be difficult to reconcile with the assumption of polygyny, which may imply limited opportunity for interaction between father and son. Finally, the conditions for the evolution of imitative song are compared with those for the evolution of human speech. The latter were obtained previously from a model assuming that speech serves to communicate adaptive cultural traits from parent to child. The conditions are highly analogous in spite of the disparity in the selective forces assumed.

Song learning in montane white-crowned sparrows: from whom and when

White-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, adults and nestlings were colour-banded and songs of mature progeny recorded to determine whether songs were learned from fathers, age peers or adults other than fathers. Four out of 17 sons and daughters sang the same song types as their fathers, indicating that transmission of song from fathers to their young (vertical transmission) is not the norm. Since juveniles do not sing full (‘crystallized’) songs until they are older, transmission from juvenile to juvenile (horizontal) is unlikely on the breeding grounds but may occur if siblings migrate together and hear each other's song on the wintering grounds. The usual mode of transmission is via other adults (oblique). Birds learn one or two songs prior to or during migration, and upon settling on the breeding area the following year may utter only one theme, that which matches the neighbours' songs during matched countersinging bouts. A bird's song dialect is thus not necessarily an indicator of its birthplace. One wild and one laboratory-reared bird sang songs of a Lincoln sparrow, Melospiza lincolnii, and a strawberry finch, Amandava amandava, respectively. These data and data from field playback studies lend support to the notion that interspecific terrioriality may lead to acquisition of alien song for use in matched countersinging during territorial encounters with allospecific neighbours.

Individual Stability, Local Variability and the Cultural Transmission of Song in White-Crowned Sparrows (Zonotrichia Leucophrys Nuttalli)

The songs of 306 territorial male white-crowned sparrows were recorded between 1975 and 1983 in two study areas in San Francisco, California. Nestlings were banded and 47 sons whose father's songs had been recorded acquired territories. Some fathers had more than one son who acquired a territory. The songs of 263 territorial neighbours of the sons were also recorded. In addition, there were 32 females for whom both the father's and the mate's songs were available. The songs that were sung on the two study areas differed in a number of qualitative and quantitative aspects. For each area, there was change across years, in qualitative composition of song types, as well as considerable variability in the properties of the songs within dialect areas throughout the course of the study. There were 49 instances in which the song of a territory holder was recorded for more than one year. These individuals exhibited considerable stability of song across years. The song types of sons and fathers and of sons and neighbours were compared; Analysis of these songs indicated that some sons sang the song of the father, some adopted a song similar to that of the neighbours, and some had song with idiosyncratic elements that, in a few cases, remained in the population during succeeding generations. These data provided no support for the hypothesis that sons learned song preferentially from the father: there was no tendency for the quantitative characteristics of the songs of sons and fathers to be more similar than those of sons and neighbours, and when a father had two sons whose song was known, there was little tendency for the three songs to resemble one another. Finally, the songs of a father and his daughter's mate did not tend to resemble one another, indicating that females of this species do not choose as mates males that sing the same song as their father's. These results suggest that variability in transmission of song types may play a role in individual recognition, which in turn might aid a male to acquire a territory.

The cultural transmission of bird song

Songbirds learn the songs that they sing from other individuals, but the learning is not always accurate. This leads to dialects and to changes with time in the songs found in one place. Are these phenomena functional or are they simply byproducts of vocal learning which has evolved for quite different reasons?

Cultural transmission of cowbird song (Molothrus ater): Measuring its development and outcome.

Cultural transmission of cowbird song (Molothrus ater): Measuring its development and outcome.

Cultural transmission of cowbird song (Molothrus ater): Measuring its development and outcome.

Cultural transmission of cowbird song (Molothrus ater): Measuring its development and outcome.

Long-range communication of species identity by song in the Red-winged Blackbird

Adaptations of Red-winged Blackbird (Agelaius phoeniceus) song for communication of species identity over long distances were studied in an upland pasture in Ithaca, New York. This song consists of a series of brief introductory notes followed by a longer concluding trill. The trill contains energy from 2–6 kHz. Sound transmission properties and ambient noise characteristics of the habitat, changes in song composition with propagation, and the behavioral relevance of observed changes in song structure were analyzed. 1. At a height of 1.5 m above the ground in the habitat studied, sound transmission is greates below about 4.5 kHz. Attenuation of sound energy increases monotonically above this frequency (Fig. 3). Peak redwing song energy occurs from about 2.5–4.0 kHz (Fig. 1). 2. With increasing distance from a speaker most or all of the spectral structure in the introductory song components, as well as higher frequencies in the concluding trill, is severely attenuated. Songs of different males converge with distance upon a narrow frequency band (2.5–4.0 kHz) contained within the trill (Fig. 4). 3. This frequency band coincides with a relatively quiet region of the acoustic environment, bordered on the low frequency side by wind disturbance and, in the later part of the breeding season, on the higher frequency end by calls of various orthopteran species (Fig. 6). There may be, then, a ‘noise window’ for optimal long-distance song transmission in this spectral region. 4. The 2.5–4.0 kHz section of the trill is both necessary and sufficient to evoke a strong species-specific behavioral response, and contains sufficient information to do so even after transmission over a distance of at least 100 m. Neither the introductory components by themselves nor the high frequency part of the trill (4–6 kHz) are effective in producing such a response.