Chris Templeton, Ph.D.
Associate Professor, Pacific University

How Do they Du-et? Vocal Function, Coordination, and Learning in Pairs of Neotropical Wrens
Rapid turn-taking and vocal learning are hallmarks of human language, but both features also occur in a few other species. Like humans, many songbirds must learn to produce their vocalizations, yet in the temperate zone song is mostly limited to male birds. In the tropics, however, female and male birds often sing, creating the opportunity for pairs to sing together, producing coordinated duets. In these duetting species, pairs can combine their sex-specific song phrases with such temporal precision that it can sound like a single individual sings the whole song. Further, many of these species have large song repertoires and use ‘duet codes,’ in which pair-specific answering rules are learned to help facilitate personalized and rapid vocal exchanges. Why do these birds sing duets when this behavior is so rare in the temperate zone? Why do some species sing more complex songs or more highly-coordinated duets than other species? How do birds learn to sing, and must they learn both a repertoire of song types and the rules for coordinating these songs with a partner? In this talk, I will describe how ecological, evolutionary, and social processes drive the evolution complexity and coordination in duets and choruses across this group of species.


Zoom link: https://washington.zoom.us/j/99961558844

This lecture made possible in part by a generous endowment from Professor Allen L. Edwards. 
Faculty host: Joe Sisneros, sisneros@uw.edu.

Accommodation requests related to a disability should be made by 4/30/20 to chairpsy@uw.edu.