Garcia Maxime, Herbst Christian T, Bowling Daniel L, Dunn Jacob C, Fitch W Tecumseh
Department of Cognitive Biology, University of Vienna, Althanstrasse 14, 1090, Vienna, Austria.
ENES Lab, Université Lyon/Saint-Etienne, NEURO-PSI, CNRS UMR 9197, Saint-Etienne, France.
Sci Rep. 2017 Sep 5;7(1):10450. doi: 10.1038/s41598-017-11000-x.
A fundamental issue in the evolution of communication is the degree to which signals convey accurate ("honest") information about the signaler. In bioacoustics, the assumption that fundamental frequency (f ) should correlate with the body size of the caller is widespread, but this belief has been challenged by various studies, possibly because larynx size and body size can vary independently. In the present comparative study, we conducted excised larynx experiments to investigate this hypothesis rigorously and explore the determinants of f . Using specimens from eleven primate species, we carried out an inter-specific investigation, examining correlations between the minimum f produced by the sound source, body size and vocal fold length (VFL). We found that, across species, VFL predicted minimum f much better than body size, clearly demonstrating the potential for decoupling between larynx size and body size in primates. These findings shed new light on the diversity of primate vocalizations and vocal morphology, highlighting the importance of vocal physiology in understanding the evolution of mammal vocal communication.
通信进化中的一个基本问题是信号在多大程度上传达了有关信号发出者的准确（“诚实”）信息。在生物声学中，基频（f）应与发声者的体型相关这一假设很普遍，但这一观点受到了各种研究的挑战，可能是因为喉部大小和体型可以独立变化。在本比较研究中，我们进行了喉部切除实验，以严格调查这一假设并探索f的决定因素。我们使用来自11种灵长类动物的标本进行了种间调查，研究了声源产生的最低f、体型和声襞长度（VFL）之间的相关性。我们发现，在不同物种中，VFL比体型更能预测最低f，这清楚地表明了灵长类动物喉部大小和体型之间可能脱钩。这些发现为灵长类动物发声和发声形态的多样性提供了新的见解，突出了发声生理学在理解哺乳动物声音通信进化中的重要性。
