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. In more analytic
experiments with both live and ‘virtual’ tutors, we have compared
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. Our
results so far have supported the importance of overheard singing interactions
(‘social eavesdropping’). 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. Field playback experiments with recently
fledged birds in their natal summer have indicated that they are attracted to
singing interactions between adult song sparrows, another piece of evidence for
the social eavesdropping hypothesis.
We are also using the
radio-tracking method to track mated pairs before, during and after the
female’s fertile period, looking for behavioral correlates of extra-pair
mating behavior in song sparrows. Previous research has indicated that about
25% of young in the nest belong not to the social mate at the nest, but to one
of his neighbors. We are looking for song correlates and other possible
predictors of extra-pair mating success.
Finally, we are also doing
integrative, collaborative studies of the role of neural song centers in song
perception and production in collaboration with Eliot Brenowitz.
Recent Papers:
[Note:
Underlined titles are linked to a Word or PDF file if unpublished or
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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. (2007) Bird
song learning in an eavesdropping context. Animal Behaviour, 73, 929-935.
Burt,
J. M., O’Loghlen, A. L., Templeton, C. N., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher,
M. D., (2007) Assessing the
importance of social factors in bird song learning: A test using
computer-simulated tutors. Ethology,
113, 917-925.
Nordby,
J. C.,
Burt,
J. M. & Beecher, M. D. (2008) The social
interaction role of song in song sparrows: implications for signal design. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews,
3, 86-98.
Beecher,
M. D. & Burt, J. M. (2008) More on
the cognitive ecology of song communication and song learning in the song
sparrow. In R. Dukas & J. Ratcliffe (eds.), Evolutionary ecology of learning, memory & information use, in
press.
Akçay,
C., Wood, W. E., Searcy, W. A., Templeton, C. N., Campbell, S. E. &
Beecher, M. D. (2009) Good
Neighbour, bad neighbour: Song sparrows retaliate against aggressive rivals.
Animal Behaviour, 78, 97-102.
Searcy, W. A. & Beecher, M. D.
(Sub.) Aggressive signalling via song in songbirds.
Hill,
C. E., Akçay, C., 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.
Web pages:
John Burt Chris Templeton Anya
Illes Çağlar
Akçay Photos: Rogues Gallery Chris H
graduates Maestro in Action
Michael Beecher Curriculum Vitae Mike
‘supervises’ John in a technical endeavor
