Correlated divergence of ecology, morphology, and fine-scale vocal motor performance among sparrow subspecies

Animal structures often evolve for multiple functions, such as limbs used for both climbing and fighting. Adaptations that optimize one function may limit performance of others. Here, we compare songs of inland (freshwater) and coastal (saltmarsh) subspecies of swamp sparrows (Melospiza georgiana) for which adaptation to distinct habitats has driven divergence in beak size and shape. Prior studies have shown that these subspecies’ songs differ in a broad-scale metric of vocal performance—vocal deviation—in a direction consistent with the hypothesis that vocal performance is disproportionately constrained in larger-beaked birds. We hypothesize that beak divergence has also driven divergence in additional, more fine-scale phonological and temporal measures of song including note types and the acoustic structure of notes and inter-note gaps. Consistent with expectations, coastal birds’ songs show greater proportions of low-performance notes and note transitions, notes and inter-note gaps t..., , # Data from: Correlated divergence of ecology, morphology, and fine-scale vocal motor performance among sparrow subspecies

Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.qnk98sfvn](10.5061/dryad.qnk98sfvn)

## Description of the data and file structure

Datasets and associated analysis code for a comparison of fine-scale song structure between two subspecies of swamp sparrow (*Melospiza georgiana*).

### Datasets and variables

**multiphrasesongs.csv:** Summary sheet indicating syllables and notes within multiphrased swamp sparrow songs.

*Variables:*

* BirdID
* SongID
* MultiSyll: Essentially a syllableID indicating unique syllable types from each bird. The first syllable in the song is the same ID as the songID, and the second syllable is the songID followed by a 2.
* Syllable.Number: Which syllable in sequence within a song the note is a part of.
* Element.Number: Which note in sequence within a song.
* ElementType: Note type as described by Marler and Pickert 1984.
* Pop: Indicates which subspecies....,