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Current Ornithology pp 81–124Cite as

Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Song Repertoires

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Part of the book series: Current Ornithology ((CUOR,volume 14))

Abstract

Bird song is an acoustic ornament. That is, bird song is a conspicuous, elaborate trait with no apparent survival value. Thus, along with long tails and showy plumage, bird song has been extensively studied as a model of avian sexual selection. There has now accumulated much experimental evidence, from both field and laboratory studies, that song functions to attract mates and to repel competitors from territories (Kroodsma and Byers, 1991; Searcy and Andersson, 1986). One of the most conspicuous and elaborate aspects of bird song is its extreme complexity and variety. Individuals of many species of birds sing multiple variants of their species-typical songs; that is, they possess song repertoires. Large song repertoires are the acoustic analogue of a peacock’s tail. Because songs are so showy and seem so redundant, much research has been devoted to describing song repertoires and patterns of singing behavior. Similarly, many researchers have hypothesized ways in which sexual selection may favor birds that have larger song repertoires. The purposes of this paper are to (1) review the distribution of song repertoires in passerine birds and (2) review the numerous hypotheses that have been proposed to account for the evolution of song repertoires.

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  1. Scott A. Macdougall-Shackleton

    Present address: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey, 08544, USA

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    Scott A. Macdougall-Shackleton

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    Charles F. Thompson

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Macdougall-Shackleton, S.A. (1997). Sexual Selection and the Evolution of Song Repertoires. In: Nolan, V., Ketterson, E.D., Thompson, C.F. (eds) Current Ornithology. Current Ornithology, vol 14. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-9915-6_3

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