Animal Behaviour, Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, University of Zurich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8051 Zurich, Switzerland.
Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zurich, 8032 Zurich, Switzerland.
Biol Lett. 2020 Jul;16(7):20200081. doi: 10.1098/rsbl.2020.0081. Epub 2020 Jul 8.
is the study of how animal vocalizations reflect their body size. A key aim of this research is to identify outliers to acoustic allometry principles and pinpoint the evolutionary origins of such outliers. A parallel strand of research investigates species capable of , the experience-driven ability to produce novel vocal signals through imitation or modification of existing vocalizations. Modification of vocalizations is a common feature found when studying both acoustic allometry and vocal learning. Yet, these two fields have only been investigated separately to date. Here, we review and connect acoustic allometry and vocal learning across mammalian clades, combining perspectives from bioacoustics, anatomy and evolutionary biology. Based on this, we hypothesize that, as a precursor to vocal learning, some species might have evolved the capacity for volitional vocal modulation via sexual selection for 'dishonest' signalling. We provide preliminary support for our hypothesis by showing significant associations between allometric deviation and vocal learning in a dataset of 164 mammals. Our work offers a testable framework for future empirical research linking allometric principles with the evolution of vocal learning.
是研究动物发声如何反映其体型的学科。这项研究的一个主要目标是确定声学异速生长原理的异常值，并确定这些异常值的进化起源。研究的另一个平行领域则探讨了物种能够通过模仿或修改现有发声来产生新的发声信号的能力，即体验驱动的发声能力。发声的改变是在研究声学异速生长和发声学习时都常见的特征。然而，迄今为止，这两个领域仅分别进行了研究。在这里，我们综述并连接了哺乳动物类群中的声学异速生长和发声学习，结合了生物声学、解剖学和进化生物学的观点。基于这一点，我们假设，作为发声学习的前奏，一些物种可能通过性选择进化出了通过“不诚实”信号进行意愿发声调节的能力。我们通过展示 164 种哺乳动物数据集在声音学习方面的重要关联，为我们的假设提供了初步支持。我们的工作为未来的实证研究提供了一个可测试的框架，将异速生长原理与发声学习的进化联系起来。
