Department of Integrative Biology, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, Ontario, Canada.
Evolution. 2021 Mar;75(3):719-730. doi: 10.1111/evo.14167. Epub 2021 Jan 25.
Diverse animal species engage in long-distance migrations. Many migrants travel in groups, and communication within these groups may be important to survival and successful migration. We examined migration and communication in 36 species of wood warblers (Parulidae), songbirds that breed in North America and migrate in mixed-species flocks to their wintering grounds. During migration, wood warblers produce short vocalizations called "flight calls." The function of flight calls and the patterns of acoustic similarity between species are poorly understood. We investigated whether acoustic similarity of flight calls of different species of warbler reflects the similarity in their migratory journeys or their phylogenetic relatedness. We found that phylogeny, similarity in breeding latitude, and overlap in the timing of migration predict acoustic flight call similarity across warbler species. Further, we found that phylogeny, similarity in migration distance, and overlap in wintering range predict acoustic flight call similarity in a subset of 12 species with highly similar calls, although this analysis has a small sample size. We conclude that migratory similarity may be an important force driving the evolution of acoustically similar calls in wood warblers, in addition to phylogenetic relatedness. Acoustic convergence in these species may facilitate communication between individuals with similar migrations.
许多动物物种都会进行长距离迁徙。许多迁徙者会成群结队地迁徙，而群体内部的交流对于生存和成功迁徙可能很重要。我们研究了 36 种北美产的林莺（Parulidae）的迁徙和交流行为，这些鸣禽在迁徙季节会结成混合鸟群前往越冬地。在迁徙过程中，林莺会发出短促的叫声，称为“飞行叫声”。这些飞行叫声的功能以及不同物种之间的声学相似性模式还不太清楚。我们调查了不同林莺物种的飞行叫声的声学相似性是否反映了它们迁徙路线的相似性或它们的系统发育关系。我们发现，物种之间的系统发育关系、繁殖纬度的相似性以及迁徙时间的重叠程度可以预测林莺物种之间的飞行叫声的声学相似性。此外，我们发现，在 12 个叫声非常相似的物种中，系统发育关系、迁徙距离的相似性以及越冬范围的重叠程度可以预测飞行叫声的声学相似性，尽管这种分析的样本量较小。我们的结论是，除了系统发育关系外，迁徙的相似性可能是鸣禽中声学相似叫声进化的一个重要驱动力。这些物种的声学趋同可能有助于具有相似迁徙行为的个体之间进行交流。
