Familiarity, homogeneity, and discrimination of song dialects: Data and playback study stimuli

Male songbirds of many species sing local song dialects that are restricted to defined geographical areas. In most tests of responses to local versus foreign dialects, males respond more aggressively to songs from their own dialect, presumably because local males represent more of a threat to their success. We asked how hearing foreign songs during development and territory establishment affects discrimination of the local dialect in wild Savannah sparrows, Passerculus sandwichensis. After foreign songs had been heard from loudspeakers in the study area in at least two consecutive breeding seasons, males reduced the intensity of their responses to the local version of population-specific buzz segment of the song. Four years after the foreign songs were last broadcast on the study area, males again responded more aggressively to the local version of the buzz. As for the basis of these responses, we found no evidence that birds discriminated among dialects by comparing them to their own s..., The songs of Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) in the Grand Manan archipelago (New Brunswick, Canada) were recorded using a Marantz digital recorder (PMD670 or PMD660) and a Sennheiser ME-66 directional microphone; our digital recordings used a 44 kHz rate and a 16-bit depth. We also used some songs recorded between 1993 and 2011 to characterize Kent Island variant buzzes and generate stimuli for buzz playbacks (see Wheelwright et al., 2008 for details on methods for those recordings). We digitized songs originally recorded on tape using SoundEdit Pro (Macromedia; 44 kHz and 16 bits). The buzz segments of all songs and stimuli used in this study were characterized by measuring their mean frequency (using SoundAnalysisPro; Tchernichovski et al., 1999; http://soundanalysispro.com) and pulse duration (buzz duration divided by the number of repeated sound pulses). These two parameters are sufficient for distinguishing the different dialects of Savannah sparrow buzzes (see Willi..., , # Familiarity, homogeneity, and discrimination of song dialects: Data and song stimuli The buzz segment of Savannah sparrow songs is generally consistent within a population, but varies across populations. Variation occurred within the Kent Island (New Brunswick, Canada) population in two ways: between 1994 and 2004 a total of 19 males sang a variant buzz that has not been sung since, and between 2013 and 2018 foreign (Western) songs were broadcast from speakers on the study site and were copied by some birds during song development. The paper associated with this data set assessed responses to local and foreign dialects using four buzz. By comparing the acoustic characteristics of each bird's buzz to those of the stimuli it heard, we were able to show that the intensity of a bird's response is not predicted by the acoustic difference between his song and the stimulus. We found that responses to the local dialect depend on a bird's experience both during development and during the cu...诸多鸟类物种的雄性鸣禽都会鸣唱局限于特定地理区域的地方性鸣唱方言。在绝大多数针对本地与外来方言的应答测试中，雄性鸣禽对同地方言的鸣唱会表现出更强的攻击性应答，推测是因为本地同类雄性对其繁殖成功率构成了更大的威胁。本研究旨在探究：在发育与领地建立阶段接触外来鸣唱，会如何影响野生沙鹀（Savannah sparrow, *Passerculus sandwichensis*）对本地方言的辨识能力。当研究区域内的扬声器连续至少两个繁殖季播放外来鸣唱后，雄性沙鹀对本种群特异性鸣唱的啭鸣段（buzz segment）本地版本的应答强度会出现下降。而当研究区域最后一次播放外来鸣唱的四年后，雄性沙鹀又会重新对本地版本的啭鸣段表现出更强的攻击性应答。至于此类应答的机制，我们未发现鸟类通过将各类方言与自身鸣唱（原文截断为s...）进行比对来辨识方言的证据。 本研究针对加拿大新不伦瑞克省格兰德马南群岛的野生沙鹀（*Passerculus sandwichensis*）的鸣唱进行了录制：录制设备采用马兰士（Marantz）数字录音机（型号PMD670或PMD660）搭配森海塞尔（Sennheiser）ME-66定向麦克风；数字录音采样率为44 kHz，位深度为16比特。此外，我们还使用了1993年至2011年间录制的部分鸣唱样本，以表征肯特岛种群的变异啭鸣段，并为啭鸣段回放实验生成刺激声（相关录制方法的细节参见Wheelwright等人2008年的研究）。我们使用SoundEdit Pro（Macromedia公司出品，采样率44 kHz、位深度16比特）对原始磁带录制的鸣唱进行了数字化处理。 本研究中所有鸣唱与刺激素材的啭鸣段（buzz segment），均通过测量其平均频率（采用SoundAnalysisPro软件；Tchernichovski等人，1999；http://soundanalysispro.com）与脉冲时长（即啭鸣段时长除以重复发声脉冲的数量）进行特征表征。这两项参数足以区分沙鹀啭鸣段的不同方言（原文截断为Willi...,）。 # 鸣唱方言的熟悉度、同质性与辨识性：数据集与鸣唱刺激素材 沙鹀鸣唱的啭鸣段在种群内部通常保持一致，但在不同种群间存在差异。加拿大新不伦瑞克省肯特岛种群的变异存在两种形式：1994年至2004年间，共有19只雄性沙鹀鸣唱过一种此后未再出现的变异啭鸣；2013年至2018年间，研究区域内的扬声器播放了外来（西部种群）鸣唱，部分幼鸟在鸣唱发育阶段模仿了此类鸣唱。本数据集对应的研究论文采用四种啭鸣段素材，评估了雄性沙鹀对本地与外来方言的应答情况。通过将每只个体鸣唱的啭鸣段声学特征与其所接触的刺激声声学特征进行比对，我们发现：个体的应答强度无法通过其鸣唱与刺激声之间的声学差异进行预测。我们还发现，对本地方言的应答强度取决于个体在发育阶段以及领地建立阶段（原文截断为cu...）的经历。