美国德克萨斯大学西南医学中心Todd F. Roberts研究团队揭示了雄性斑胸草雀求爱歌曲的隐蔽适应性。2024年3月20日，《自然》杂志在线发表了这项成果。

通过对斑胸草雀（Taeniopygia guttata）的歌唱行为应用降维技术，研究人员证明了低维特征空间中的音节传播可以解释单首歌曲，是如何作为适应性的忠实指标发挥作用的。研究人员发现，这种行为的Gestalt测量方法捕捉到了斑胸草雀歌曲音节的谱时独特性。

雌性斑胸草雀强烈偏好占据更多潜空间的歌曲，对于年轻雄性斑胸草雀来说，在低维空间中匹配路径长度是困难的。这些研究结果阐明了鸣禽如何演化出简单的声乐曲目，并指出了性选择如何塑造声乐学习的不同策略。

据介绍，鸣禽的声乐学习被认为是通过性选择演化而来的，雌性的偏好促使雄性发展出大量不同的歌曲曲目。然而，许多鸣禽物种一生只学会一首歌。性选择如何驱动单曲演化尚不清楚。

附：英文原文

Title: The hidden fitness of the male zebra finch courtship song

Author: Alam, Danyal, Zia, Fayha, Roberts, Todd F.

Issue&Volume: 2024-03-20

Abstract: Vocal learning in songbirds is thought to have evolved through sexual selection, with female preference driving males to develop large and varied song repertoires1,2,3. However, many songbird species learn only a single song in their lifetime4. How sexual selection drives the evolution of single-song repertoires is not known. Here, by applying dimensionality-reduction techniques to the singing behaviour of zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata), we show that syllable spread in low-dimensional feature space explains how single songs function as honest indicators of fitness. We find that this Gestalt measure of behaviour captures the spectrotemporal distinctiveness of song syllables in zebra finches; that females strongly prefer songs that occupy more latent space; and that matching path lengths in low-dimensional space is difficult for young males. Our findings clarify how simple vocal repertoires may have evolved in songbirds and indicate divergent strategies for how sexual selection can shape vocal learning.

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-024-07207-4

Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-07207-4