Ask the Scientists

Join The Discussion

What is the context of this research?

Birdsong is one of the most essential adaptations a songbird has to ensure reproductive success, and has been a topic of great interest in the ornithological community. In recent years, the role of ecology in the dynamics of birdsong has led to a myriad of studies with conflicting results (Slabbekoorn & Smith 2002). We know that living in an urban habitat can change songs of birds in a variety of ways, from note deletion to hurried songs (Slabbekoorn & Boer-Visser 2006), to changes in frequency. Furthermore, dense vegetative habitat has shown to slow bird vocalizations (Derryberry 2009), which suggests that urban birds will have to change their vocalizations to further overcome anthropogenic noise.





What is the significance of this project?

Research on the vocalizations of these songbirds is essential to better understand birdsong evolution as well as the impacts human land use has on bird populations. What this study intends to do is to look at a never-before studied population of non-native birds in Hawaii. We hope to see, through recording songs, if geographical distance as well as anthropogenic influences have changed the songs from their mainland counterparts, and identify exactly what those changes are.



This study is especially important as, with this information, we not only will be able to see if speciation is occurring between populations, but also be able to observe these changes in real time.



What are the goals of the project?

There are a number of goals for this project: