Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators

Abstract In many vertebrates, acoustic cues to body size are encoded in resonance frequencies of the vocal tract (“formants”), rather than in the rate of tissue vibration in the sound source (“pitch”). Anatomical constraints on the vocal tract’s size render formants honest cues to size in many bird...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales:	Stephan A. Reber, Judith Janisch, Kevin Torregrosa, Jim Darlington, Kent A. Vliet, W. Tecumseh Fitch
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Nature Portfolio 2017
Materias:	Medicine R Science Q
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/14adf82cc16d4da18857b9fac3709309
Etiquetas:	Agregar Etiqueta Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!

id	oai:doaj.org-article:14adf82cc16d4da18857b9fac3709309
record_format	dspace
spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:14adf82cc16d4da18857b9fac37093092021-12-02T11:41:20ZFormants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators10.1038/s41598-017-01948-12045-2322https://doaj.org/article/14adf82cc16d4da18857b9fac37093092017-05-01T00:00:00Zhttps://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-01948-1https://doaj.org/toc/2045-2322Abstract In many vertebrates, acoustic cues to body size are encoded in resonance frequencies of the vocal tract (“formants”), rather than in the rate of tissue vibration in the sound source (“pitch”). Anatomical constraints on the vocal tract’s size render formants honest cues to size in many bird and mammal species, but it is not clear whether this correlation evolved convergently in these two clades, or whether it is widespread among amniotes (mammals, birds, and non-avian reptiles). We investigated the potential for honest acoustic cues in the bellows of adult American alligators and found that formant spacing provided highly reliable cues to body size, while presumed correlates of the source signal did not. These findings held true for both sexes and for all bellows whether produced in or out of water. Because birds and crocodilians are the last extant Archosaurians and share common ancestry with all extinct dinosaurs, our findings support the hypothesis that dinosaurs used formants as cues to body size. The description of formants as honest signals in a non-avian reptile combined with previous evidence from birds and mammals strongly suggests that the principle of honest signalling via vocal tract resonances may be a broadly shared trait among amniotes.Stephan A. ReberJudith JanischKevin TorregrosaJim DarlingtonKent A. VlietW. Tecumseh FitchNature PortfolioarticleMedicineRScienceQENScientific Reports, Vol 7, Iss 1, Pp 1-11 (2017)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Medicine R Science Q
spellingShingle	Medicine R Science Q Stephan A. Reber Judith Janisch Kevin Torregrosa Jim Darlington Kent A. Vliet W. Tecumseh Fitch Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators
description	Abstract In many vertebrates, acoustic cues to body size are encoded in resonance frequencies of the vocal tract (“formants”), rather than in the rate of tissue vibration in the sound source (“pitch”). Anatomical constraints on the vocal tract’s size render formants honest cues to size in many bird and mammal species, but it is not clear whether this correlation evolved convergently in these two clades, or whether it is widespread among amniotes (mammals, birds, and non-avian reptiles). We investigated the potential for honest acoustic cues in the bellows of adult American alligators and found that formant spacing provided highly reliable cues to body size, while presumed correlates of the source signal did not. These findings held true for both sexes and for all bellows whether produced in or out of water. Because birds and crocodilians are the last extant Archosaurians and share common ancestry with all extinct dinosaurs, our findings support the hypothesis that dinosaurs used formants as cues to body size. The description of formants as honest signals in a non-avian reptile combined with previous evidence from birds and mammals strongly suggests that the principle of honest signalling via vocal tract resonances may be a broadly shared trait among amniotes.
format	article
author	Stephan A. Reber Judith Janisch Kevin Torregrosa Jim Darlington Kent A. Vliet W. Tecumseh Fitch
author_facet	Stephan A. Reber Judith Janisch Kevin Torregrosa Jim Darlington Kent A. Vliet W. Tecumseh Fitch
author_sort	Stephan A. Reber
title	Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators
title_short	Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators
title_full	Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators
title_fullStr	Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators
title_full_unstemmed	Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators
title_sort	formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in american alligators
publisher	Nature Portfolio
publishDate	2017
url	https://doaj.org/article/14adf82cc16d4da18857b9fac3709309
work_keys_str_mv	AT stephanareber formantsprovidehonestacousticcuestobodysizeinamericanalligators AT judithjanisch formantsprovidehonestacousticcuestobodysizeinamericanalligators AT kevintorregrosa formantsprovidehonestacousticcuestobodysizeinamericanalligators AT jimdarlington formantsprovidehonestacousticcuestobodysizeinamericanalligators AT kentavliet formantsprovidehonestacousticcuestobodysizeinamericanalligators AT wtecumsehfitch formantsprovidehonestacousticcuestobodysizeinamericanalligators
_version_	1718395385873956864

Formants provide honest acoustic cues to body size in American alligators

Ejemplares similares