The sounds birds make can vary, but scientists have now found that many of their songs are made up of the same basic set of sound patterns. A new global study has identified eight recurring motifs that appear in the songs of thousands of bird species. It also explains why birds living in forests sing differently from birds living in open landscapes.According to research, birds’ singing is shaped by both evolution and environment. A bird inherits many characteristics of its song from its ancestors and the place where it lives also plays an important role. Dense forests, humidity, and long communication distances can affect the transmission of sound, causing birds to use songs that are easier to hear.
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The findings, published in the journal Science, are based on one of the largest studies ever conducted on bird singing, reports Science X. Researchers analyzed more than 116,000 song recordings from 3,160 species of passerine birds collected around the world through citizen science projects.
A global framework for birdsong
Birds singing is much more than a pleasant background sound. Birds use songs to attract mates, defend their territory, and communicate with rivals or neighbors. For these messages to be useful, the sounds must carry information and travel well through the environment until they reach the other bird.Scientists have studied bird singing for many years, but most earlier research focused on simple measurements such as pitch or frequency. According to the researchers, that approach missed many important details that make each song meaningful.In this study, birdsong was considered not just as sound but as information. In addition to looking at pitch, the scientists also analyzed how both frequency and timing changed during each song. This allowed them to compare the songs of thousands of species using the same method.
Why were passerine birds chosen?
The researchers studied passerines, also known as perching birds or songbirds. Passerines include over 6,000 species and account for over 60% of all bird species on Earth.Furthermore, they are found in almost every land habitat, from tropical rainforests to open grasslands and mountains. Because they live in such different environments, they helped better understand how habitat affects birds’ singing on a global scale.The recordings used in the research came from open-source citizen science databases, allowing researchers to study bird communications across continents.
The study focused on passerines, also known as perching birds or songbirds.
The eight building blocks of birdsong
Scientists used an automated sound analysis method to compare the songs. They examined each recording using modulation power spectrum, a technique for measuring how sound changes over time and at different frequencies.According to the analysis, most bird songs are composed of combinations of only eight recurring sound motifs. These motifs are building blocks that birds combine in different ways, just as musicians arrange notes into different melodies.The eight motifs include three types of trills played at different speeds, three types of whistles with different pitch changes and atonal chaotic notes, and two more complex sounds described as harmonic stacks.Most species use more than one motif in their songs. In fact, the researchers found that individual songs typically contained two to eight motifs.However, one motif often dominated. The researchers found that 65.3% of species used their main form in more than 80% of their songs. The remaining 34.7% of species used a broader mix of motifs, resulting in greater diversity in their songs.
Location affects singing
After identifying the eight motifs, the researchers looked at where different song patterns were most common. They found that birds that communicate over long distances usually rely on simple sounds. It includes flat whistles and low trills that travel far without losing clarity.On the other hand, birds communicating over short distances often sing louder and more complex songs. These include ultrafast trills and harmonic stacks, which hold more information. However, these become more easily deformed during travel.Researchers say this shows that there is a compromise. Birds can either create highly elaborate songs that provide more information or create simple songs that travel better over long distances.
Birds living in temperate regions used louder and more complex whistles and trills.
Challenges of rainforests and open landscapes
The study also found differences between tropical and temperate regions. Birds living in tropical rainforests generally sing simple songs. Dense vegetation and humid air make it difficult for complex sounds to be transmitted without distortion. As a result, birds in these habitats selected sounds that remained clear even after passing through dense forests.In contrast, birds living in temperate regions used louder and more complex whistles and trills. Scientists say these sounds break down more easily over distance, but birds use them because they don’t need to communicate over such long distances.Researchers believe this difference may also be linked to stronger competition for mates in temperate regions.
role of development
Although habitat affected the birds’ singing, the researchers found that evolution had the strongest influence. By comparing bird songs with familial relationships between species, body characteristics and mating systems, the team found that phylogeny, or evolutionary history, explains 82% of the variation in song motifs.The study also found small but consistent differences associated with mating systems. Species in which a male mates with multiple females are more likely to use some rapidly changing whistles and other complex song patterns.This suggests that bird singing evolves from a combination of inherited traits, environmental conditions, and behavior.