Geographical Variation In Songs of A Suboscine Passerine, the Alder Flycatcher (Empidonax alnorum)

Although there is a large body of literature dealing with the nature of geographic variation in the songs of birds, few studies have examined such variation across the entire range of species of suboscine birds. We measured time and frequency characteristics of songs of Alder Flycatchers (Empidonax...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Wilson journal of ornithology 2013-03, Vol.125 (1), p.15-23
Main Authors: Lovell, Scott F., Lein, M. Ross
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Alder Flycatcher
Analysis
Animal vocalization
Bird songs
Birds
Empidonax alnorum
Fees
Flycatchers
Genetic variation
Geographic regions
geographic variation
Geographical variation
MAJOR ARTICLES
Mitochondrial DNA
Ornithology
Population geography
song
Songbirds
Studies
suboscine
Variables
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Summary:Although there is a large body of literature dealing with the nature of geographic variation in the songs of birds, few studies have examined such variation across the entire range of species of suboscine birds. We measured time and frequency characteristics of songs of Alder Flycatchers (Empidonax alnorum) from six regions spanning almost the entire range of the species, from Alaska to Maine. Both univariate and multivariate analyses demonstrated significant differences in song characteristics among regions, and discriminant function analysis classified 69% of songs to the correct region. We found no relationship between geographic separation and magnitude of difference in songs among regions—songs of birds from some widely-separated regions were more similar than they were to songs of birds from neighboring regions. We argue that these regional differences have a genetic basis, but the pattern of variation does not appear to be consistent with a simple “isolation by distance” model. The variation may reflect differing adaptation to optimize acoustic transmission in varying habitats across the range. However, more detailed studies, including examination of genetic variation among populations, are required to test such suggestions rigorously.
ISSN:1559-4491
1938-5447
DOI:10.1676/12-087.1