Home page for Michael Beecher
Michael D. Beecher Melospiza melodia UW Fountain & Mount Rainier
Professor
of Psychology & Zoology
University of Washington
Seattle, Washington 98195
(206/543-6545)
(email: beecher@u.washington.edu)
Current Research:
My laboratory is studying the
function and the development of bird song. Our study species is the song
sparrow (Melospiza melodia). The
first aspect (function) is pursued in the field, via a long-term banding and
recording program combined with field experiments (mostly playback studies).
The second aspect (development) is pursued both in the field, where we focus on
young males we have banded in the nest or netted during their first summer, and
in the laboratory, where we attempt to recreate and analyze the key conditions
identified in the field studies.
The use of elaborate acoustic
vocalizations (“song”) for communication is common in a wide
variety of animal groups. In the oscine passerines (songbirds), song has an
additional, intriguing aspect: it is learned, with much of that learning
occurring very early in life. Song learning in songbirds has been extensively
analyzed in the laboratory and has become a major model system for studying the
neurobiology of learning. Its value as a model system is enhanced by its many
parallels with human language learning. These parallels include an early sensitive
period, a perceptual filtering mechanism tuned to species communication
signals, a crucial role for auditory feedback in normal development, a
separation between sensory and motor learning, and an early subsong or babbling
stage. Work on the neural basis of song perception and production in songbirds
has revealed additional parallels between the neural centers for song in birds
and those for language in humans. In this context, understanding the normal
course of song development in songbirds becomes crucial if this model system is
going to provide general insights into the development of vocal communication
systems in general and human language in particular.
Despite the great interest in bird
song learning, our understanding of normal bird song development remains
surprisingly incomplete. One reason this is so is because most studies of song
learning to date have been laboratory experiments from which essentially all
social features have been removed. Recent research has suggested, however, that
social factors may be the key to understanding song learning. We are
investigating the role of social factors in several lines of research. In field
studies we have discovered that a young song sparrow typically learns the songs
of the several neighbors in the area where he will attempt to establish his
territory. Our laboratory “simulations”, in which we use four adult
birds as song tutors, each in his own aviary in our outdoor roof laboratory,
have supported this conclusion and indicated as well that much song tutoring
consists not of face-to-face interactions between song “tutor” and
“pupil”, but involve long-distance (across the roof) singing
interactions the young bird participates in or overhears. We are now doing more
analytic experiments with both live and “virtual” tutors designed
to compare the relative importance of direct vs. overheard singing
interactions. A “virtual” tutor is a computer program that presents
digitized songs to the young bird in a manner simulating natural singing interactions.
In another approach, we are examining song learning in the field by
radio-tracking young song sparrows through their first year and correlating the
extent and timing of their interactions with potential song tutors and the
degree to which the young birds copy their songs.
Finally, we are also doing
integrative, collaborative studies of the role of neural song centers in song
perception and production (collaborative with Eliot Brenowitz).
Recent Papers:
[Note:
Underlined titles are linked to a Word or PDF file if unpublished or
pre-proofs, to PDF file if in proofs or published. PDF files require Adobe
Acrobat Reader. The published papers have been published in the journal
indicated, which is the only definitive repository of the content that has been
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retained by the publisher. This material is for individual use only and may not
be copied or re-posted without explicit permission.]
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Stoddard,
P. K., Beecher, M. D. & Willis, M. S. (1988). Response of territorial male
song sparrows to song types and variations. Behavioral Ecology and
Sociobiology, 22, 125-130.
Beecher, M.
D. (1988). Kin recognition in birds. Behavior Genetics, 18, 465-482.
Beecher, M.
D. (1988). Spectrographic analysis of bird vocalizations: Implications of the
uncertainty principle. Bioacoustics, 1, 187-208.
Bolles, R.
C. & Beecher, M. D. (eds) (1988). Evolution and Learning, Erlbaum.
Beecher, M.
D. (1989). Signaling systems for individual recognition: an information theory
approach. Animal Behaviour, 38, 248-261.
Beecher, M.
D. & Stoddard, P. K. (1990). The role of bird song and calls in individual
recognition: Contrasting field and laboratory perspectives. In
Stoddard,
P. K.,
Stoddard,
P. K.,
Stoddard,
P. K.,
Stoddard,
P. K., Beecher, M. D., Loesche, P. & Campbell, S. E. (1992). Memory does
not constrain individual recognition in a bird with song repertoires.
Behaviour, 122, 274-287.
Horning, C.
L, Beecher, M. D., Stoddard, P. K. & Campbell, S. E. (1993). Song
perception in the song sparrow: Importance of different parts of the song in
song type classification. Ethology, 94, 46-58.
Marean, G.
C., Burt, J., Beecher, M. D. & Rubel, E. W. (1993). Hair cell regeneration
in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris): Recovery of pure-tone detection
threshold. Hearing Research, 71, 125-136.
Beecher, M.
D., Campbell, S. E. & Stoddard, P. K. (1994). Correlation of song learning
and territory establishment strategies in the song sparrow. Proceedings of the
Beecher, M.
D., Campbell, S. E. & Burt, J. (1994). Song perception in
the song sparrow: Birds classify by song type but not by singer. Animal
Behaviour, 47, 1343-1351.
Beecher,
M. D. (1996). Bird song learning in the laboratory and the field. In D. E.
Kroodsma & E. L. Miller (Eds.), Ecology and Evolution of Acoustic
Communication in Birds, pp. 61-78, Ithaca, NY: Cornell.
O'Loghlen,
A. L. & Beecher, M. D. (1997). Sexual
preferences for mate song types in female song sparrows. Animal Behaviour, 53, 835-841.
Smith,
G. T., Brenowitz, E. A., Beecher, M. D. & Wingfield, J. C. (1997). Seasonal
changes in testosterone, neural attributes of song control nuclei, and song
structure in wild songbirds. Journal of Neuroscience,
17, 6001-6010.
Beecher,
M. D., Nordby J. C., Campbell, S. E, Burt, J. M., Hill, C. E. & O'Loghlen,
A. O. (1997). What is the function of song learning in songbirds? In Owings, D.
H., Beecher, M. D. & Thompson, N. S. (Eds.), Perspectives in Ethology, Vol. 12: Communication, pp. 77-97,
Beecher,
M. D., Campbell, S. E. & Nordby J. C. (1998). The cognitive ecology of song
communication and song learning in the song sparrow. In R. Dukas (Ed.), Cognitive Ecology, pp. 175-199,
Marean,
G. C., Burt, J., Beecher, M. D. & Rubel, E. W. (1998). Auditory perception
following hair cell regeneration in the European starling (Sturnus vulgaris):
Frequency and temporal resolution. Journal
of the Acoustical Society of
Nordby
J. C. , Campbell, S. E & Beecher, M. D. (1999). Ecological correlates
of song learning in song sparrows. Behavioral
Ecology, 10, 287-297.
O'Loghlen,
A. L. & Beecher, M. D. (1999). Mate, neighbour
and stranger songs: a female song sparrow perspective. Animal Behaviour,
58, 13-20.
Hill,
C. E., Campbell, S. E., Nordby, J. C., Burt, J. M. & Beecher, M. D. (1999).
Song sharing in
two populations of song sparrows. Behavioral
Ecology & Sociobiology, 46, 341-349.
Burt,
J. M., Lent, K. L,
Beecher
M. D., Campbell, S. E., Burt, J. M., Hill, C. E. & Nordby, J. C. (2000). Song-type matching
between neighbouring song sparrows. Animal
Behaviour, 59, 21-27.
Beecher,
M. D., Campbell, S. E. & Nordby J. C. (2000). Territory tenure in
song sparrows is related to song sharing with neighbors, but not to repertoire
size. Animal Behaviour, 59, 29-37.
Nordby,
J. C., Campbell, S. E., Burt, J. M. &
Peters,
S., Searcy, W. A., Beecher, M. D. & Nowicki, S. (2000) Geographic variation
in the organization of song sparrow repertoires. Auk, 117, 936-942.
Nordby,
J. C., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher M. D. (2001) Late song learning in
song sparrows. Animal Behaviour,
61, 835-846.
Burt,
J. M., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2001) Song type matching as
threat: a test using interactive playback. Animal Behaviour, 62, 1163-1170.
Nordby,
J. C., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher M. D. (2002) Adult song sparrows
do not alter their song repertoires. Ethology,
108, 39-50.
Burt,
J. M., Bard, S. C., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2002) Alternative forms of
song matching in song sparrows. Animal
Behaviour, 63, 1143-1151.
Reeves,
B. J., Brenowitz, E. A. & Beecher, M. D. (2003) Seasonal changes in avian
song control circuits do not cause seasonal changes in song discrimination in
song sparrows. Journal of Neurobiology,
57, 119-129.
Beecher,
M. D. & Burt, J. M. (2004) The role of
social interaction in bird song learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 224-228.
Beecher, M. D. & Brenowitz, E. A. (2005) Functional aspects of song learning in birds. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 20, 143-149.
Brenowitz,
E. A. & Beecher, M. D. (2005) Song learning in birds:
Diversity and plasticity, opportunities and challenges. Trends in Neuroscience, 28, 127-132.
Beecher,
M. D. & Campbell, S. E. (2005) The role of
unshared songs in singing interactions between neighbouring song sparrows. Animal Behaviour, 70, 1297-1304.
Beecher,
M. D., Burt, J. M., O’Loghlen, A. L., Templeton, C. N. & Campbell, S.
E. (in press) Bird
song learning in an eavesdropping context. Animal Behaviour.
Nordby,
J. C., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher M. D. (in press) Selective attrition
and individual song repertoire development in song sparrows. Animal Behaviour.
Burt,
J. M., O’Loghlen, A. L., Templeton, C. N., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher,
M. D., (in press) Social
factors in song learning: Studies with ‘virtual’ (computer) tutors.
Ethology.
Hill,
C. E., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (In prep.) Does female choice
select for male song repertoires? Female choice of extra-pair mates and male
song characteristics in the song sparrow.
Templeton, C. N. et al. Progress Report on Radio-Tracking Study.
Webpages:
John Burt Chris Templeton Tim
Billo Anya Illes Çağlar
Akçay
Photos:
Rogues
Gallery Chris H
graduates The Maestro
Michael Beecher Curriculum
Vitae Mike
‘supervises’ John in a technical endeavor
note: click on display in presentation mode
to play song
