Linking diet, song, and evolution in tropical birds

The mating songs of birds serve multiple functions, and are subject to wide-ranging pressures that influence the evolution of song structure.

In this seminar I will discuss our research on how birds' songs may be influenced by divergence in morphology, especially related to diet, and will also explore what diet x song connections might mean for bird evolution. Towards this end I will review some of our work on two tropical bird radiations: Darwin's finches of the Galápagos Islands, and Cotingas (including the world's loudest birds) of mainland South America. Our studies suggest that diet x song connections may impact, as incidental effects, key processes in bird evolution including reproductive isolation, speciation, and sexual selection.