2001/12/01 by Bettina Mahler · 5 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · #Animal Behavior and Reproduction #Animal Vocal Communication and Behavior #Biology #Character (mathematics) #Discriminant function analysis #Ecology #Evolutionary biology #Morphology (biology) #Plant and animal studies #Sound production #Statistics #Taxon #Taxonomic rank #Taxonomy (biology) #Variation (astronomy) #Zoology
paper · doi:10.1006/bijl.2001.0596
openalex publication_date 2001/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
We studied the pattern of variation in song characters among 16 New World pigeon species belonging to different taxonomic groups defined by morphological characters. Structural, temporal and frequency characters of the song were analysed. Principal components analyses showed that species belonging to the same taxonomic group were also grouped together by their song characters. In addition, individuals were correctly assigned into taxonomic groups by discriminant function analyses in more than 87.8% of cases. These analyses also showed that more than 87.5% of the individuals could be correctly classified by species when all song characters were included. Correct classification of individuals by species and taxonomic groups dropped when character types were analysed separately, thus showing that structural, as well as temporal and frequency characters are fundamental to define species- and group-specific identities of New World pigeon's songs. Correspondence between patterns of vocal and morphological variation found in this study can be a consequence of evolutionary changes in morphology affecting song production, as for example body size changes that constrain the syrinx to produce certain acoustic frequencies.