Correlated evolution between repertoire size and song plasticity predicts that sexual selection on song promotes open-ended learning

  1. Cristina M Robinson
  2. Kate T Snyder
  3. Nicole Creanza  Is a corresponding author
  1. Vanderbilt University, United States
9 figures, 9 tables and 5 additional files

Figures

Figure 1 with 8 supplements
Syllable repertoire size is larger in species with adult song plasticity even when controlling for phylogenetic relationships.

These phylogenies show the calculated evolution of natural-log transformed syllable repertoire size and either (A) stable and plastic song stability states or (B) early song-stable, delayed …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.003
Figure 1—source data 1

Predicted values for internal nodes for each trait.

There are three plots with associated tables for each song characteristic: The first plot and table set gives the values when the binary categorization of song stability (song-stable and song-plastic) is used. The second plot and table set gives the values when the ternary categorization of early song-stable, delayed song-stable, and song-plastic is used. The final plot and table set gives values when the continuous categorization is used. In the table, ‘Node’ corresponds to the numbered boxes on the tree nodes. ‘State Likelihood’ gives the probability that the common ancestor at a node was in a given leaning state when discrete categorizations are used. S = song stable, p=song plastic, E = early song-stable, D = delayed song-stable. ‘Length of Plasticity’ predicts the value along a continuous spectrum. ‘Trait’ is the predicted value of the song trait being examined in the associated tree for each internal node.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.012
Figure 1—figure supplement 1
Minimum number of evolutionary transitions required to recapitulate the current song stability states of birds in this study.

White dots at the tips show song-plastic species, while black dots show song-stable species. Inset shows an equally parsimonious set of transitions for the labeled species. At least seven …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.004
Figure 1—figure supplement 2
There was a significant relationship between song repertoire size and song stability when controlling for phylogeny.

The estimated ancestral character states are mapped on the tree for both adult song stability versus plasticity and for log-transformed song repertoire size. Black and white dots represent a species …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.005
Figure 1—figure supplement 3
There was no relationship between syllables per song and song stability when controlling for phylogeny.

The estimated ancestral character states are mapped on the tree for both adult song stability versus plasticity (black versus white) and for log-transformed syllables per song (purple). Labeling is …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.006
Figure 1—figure supplement 4
There was no relationship between song duration and song stability when controlling for phylogeny.

The estimated ancestral character states are mapped on the tree for both adult song stability versus plasticity (black versus white) and for log-transformed song duration (purple). Labeling is the …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.007
Figure 1—figure supplement 5
There was no relationship between intersong interval and song stability when controlling for phylogeny.

The estimated ancestral character states are mapped on the tree for both adult song stability versus plasticity (black versus white) and for log-transformed intersong interval (purple). Labeling is …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.008
Figure 1—figure supplement 6
There was no relationship between song rate and song stability when controlling for phylogeny.

The estimated ancestral character states are mapped on the tree for both adult song stability versus plasticity (black versus white) and for log-transformed song rate (purple). Labeling is the same …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.009
Figure 1—figure supplement 7
There was no relationship between song continuity and song stability when controlling for phylogeny.

The estimated ancestral character states are mapped on the tree for both adult song stability versus plasticity (black versus white) and for log-transformed song continuity (purple). Labeling is the …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.010
Figure 1—figure supplement 8
There was no significant correlation between the rate of syllable repertoire evolution and ancestral syllable repertoire size in closely related species pairs (Pearson’s r = 0.101, p=0.6715).

The 20 species pairs that form monophyletic groups in our 67-species tree are included. Each point represents one species pair. A linear model yields a best-fit line of y = 0.0228 x + 0.131. Thus, …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.011
Comparison of song stability state and song examples in Phylloscopus species.

P. collybita, a species with adult song stability, has a smaller syllable repertoire size than P. trochilus and P. fuscastus, two species with adult song plasticity. Colors of branches and nodes …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.014
Distribution of repertoire sizes in species with different song stability states.

(A) shows the distribution of syllable repertoires and (B) shows the distribution of song repertoires when species are broken into two groups based on song stability. (C) shows the distribution of …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.015
Distributions of rates for natural-log transformed song traits related to complexity.

The boxes at the top illustrate how we grouped the species for each model. Column 1 (A-C): Blue traces are song-stable, while red traces are song-plastic. Column 2 (D-F): Blue traces are early …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.020
Distributions of rates of evolution for natural-log transformed song traits related to performance.

Blue traces song-stable, while red traces are song-plastic. The black line shows the rate for the one-rate model. Asterisks indicate that the rate of evolution of that song characteristic …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.021
Figure 6 with 6 supplements
Analysis of correlated evolution between adult song stability/plasticity and syllable repertoire size.

We repeated the BayesTraits analysis using each value of the continuous song trait as the threshold delineating the larger and smaller syllable repertoire groups. We performed a total of 100 runs …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.026
Figure 6—source data 1

Mean transition rates from BayesTraits analysis between song stability and song features averaged over 2, 4, and 5 bins.

On page 1, the top two panels depict the mean rates from all runs across the values of syllable repertoire in the lower and upper half of thresholds, respectively. The bottom panel shows the p-values from the 100 runs per threshold, plotted against threshold. Colored bars denote low and high threshold segments. The blue line denotes p=0.05. On page 2, the top four panels depict the mean rates from all runs across the values of syllable repertoire in the first (top left), second (top right), third (middle left), and fourth (middle right) quartiles of the thresholds. The bottom panel follows the pattern of the bottom panel from page 1. On page 3, the five panels (top left and right, middle left and right, and bottom left) depict the mean rates from all runs across the values of syllable repertoire in the five quintiles of the of the thresholds, respectively. The bottom panel follows the pattern of the bottom panels from pages 1 and 2. The three-page pattern repeats for each song feature.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.027
Figure 6—source data 2

BayesTraits analysis of syllable repertoire and learning window, jackknifed across families.

Labeling the same as in Figure 6 and Figure 6—figure supplement 1.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.034
Figure 6—source data 3

BayesTraits analysis of syllables per song and learning window, jackknifed across families.

Labeling the same as in Figure 6 and Figure 6—figure supplement 1.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.035
Figure 6—figure supplement 1
BayesTraits analysis on song stability and syllables per song.

We repeated the BayesTraits analysis using each value of the continuous song trait, here, syllables per song, as the threshold delineating the ‘high’ and ‘low’ syllables per song groups. We …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.028
Figure 6—figure supplement 2
BayesTraits analysis on song stability and song duration.

Labeling the same as in Figure 6 and Figure 6—figure supplement 1.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.029
Figure 6—figure supplement 3
BayesTraits analysis on song stability and intersong interval.

Labeling the same as in Figure 6 and Figure 6—figure supplement 1.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.030
Figure 6—figure supplement 4
BayesTraits analysis on song stability and song rate.

Labeling the same as in Figure 6 and Figure 6—figure supplement 1.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.031
Figure 6—figure supplement 5
BayesTraits analysis on song stability and song continuity.

Labeling the same as in Figure 6 and Figure 6—figure supplement 1.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.032
Figure 6—figure supplement 6
BayesTraits analysis of song stability and mating behaviors performed over 1000 runs.

Transition arrows are labeled with the mean rate over all 1000 runs. (A) Mating system (polygyny vs. monogamy): 1000 of 1000 runs were significant at p<0.05. (B) Extra-pair paternity (Low EPP vs. …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.033
Analysis of correlated evolution between adult song stability/plasticity and song repertoire size.

Labeling is the same as in Figure 6.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.036
Figure 7—source data 1

BayesTraits analysis of song repertoire and learning window, jackknifed across families.

Labeling the same as in Figure 6 and Figure 6—figure supplement 2.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.037

Tables

Table 1
PhylANOVA results for all song traits when birds are divided into species with adult song stability or adult song plasticity.

Song traits are sorted from most to least significant. Song-stable and song-plastic columns show mean values of each log-transformed song trait. Corrected α indicates the threshold for significance …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.013
Song traitSong-stableSong-plasticF-ValueCorrected αp-value
Syllable repertoire1.88073.94641.50640.0071<0.001*
Song repertoire1.10553.868833.83340.0083<0.001*
Syllables/song1.25562.29629.26580.010.094
Duration0.77361.29272.07830.01250.42
Continuity-1.3453-1.02862.15370.01670.474
Interval1.60751.2181.38790.0250.567
Song rate1.89692.09710.60790.050.713
  1. *Denotes traits with significantly different groups.

Table 2
PhylANOVA results for all song traits when birds are divided into early song stability, delayed song stability, and song plasticity.

Song traits are sorted from most to least significant. Early, delayed, and plastic columns show mean values of each log-transformed song trait. Corrected α indicates the threshold for significance …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.016
Song traitEarlyDelayedPlasticF-ValueCorrected αp-value
Syllable repertoire1.64362.00623.94617.10990.00710.003*
Song repertoire0.67881.48193.868812.880.00830.011*
Syllables/song1.28521.24672.29623.68770.010.252
  1. *Denotes traits with significantly different groups.

Table 3
Post-hoc pairwise phylANOVA tests for significant song traits when birds are divided into early song stability, delayed song stability, and song plasticity.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.017
Song traitState 1State 2T-Valuep-value
Syllable repertoirePlasticDelayed4.89950.012*
Syllable repertoireEarlyPlastic4.60910.003*
Syllable repertoireEarlyDelayed0.68720.659
Song repertoirePlasticDelayed4.02680.044*
Song repertoireEarlyPlastic4.30740.015*
Song repertoireEarlyDelayed1.04440.55
  1. *Denotes traits with significantly different groups.

Table 4
Results of PGLS analysis between song characteristics and continuous song stability.

Test performed on the natural-log scaled values of song characteristics. λ is the value by which off-diagonal elements in the Brownian motion model are multiplied to make the correlation structure. …

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.018
Song traitSlopeStd errorλT-ValueCorrected αp-value
Syllable repertoire0.90670.24490.89133.70210.0071<0.001*
Song repertoire1.10130.31230.83163.52630.0083<0.001*
Syllables/song0.37010.22240.46991.66420.010.1029
Interval0.42210.26460.88231.59530.01250.1215
Continuity-0.21350.14390.8832-1.48380.01670.1486
Duration0.37020.25691.01631.4410.0250.1578
Song rate-0.21130.250.7307-0.84530.050.4048
  1. *Denotes significant slopes.

Table 5
Brownie results for song traits when birds are divided into species with adult song stability or adult song plasticity.

Rate columns show mean log likelihood. Song traits are sorted from most to least significant.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.019
Song traitOne rateTwo ratesp-value
Syllables/song-110.6482-100.7673<0.001*
Song rate-43.4397-38.49380.002*
Interval-45.2842-40.50040.002*
Duration-71.2042-66.31220.002*
Continuity-25.6471-24.72850.175
Syllable repertoire-120.2983-120.06950.499
Song repertoire-113.5829-113.37060.515
  1. *Denotes traits where the more complex model fit the data significantly better than the simpler model.

Table 6
Brownie results for song traits when birds are divided into early song stability, delayed song stability, and song plasticity.

Rate columns show mean log likelihood. Song traits are sorted from most to least significant.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.022
Song traitOne rateThree ratesp-value
Syllables/song-97.8349-86.3206<0.001*
Song repertoire-100.812-97.76470.014*
Syllable repertoire-107.3206-105.58950.063
  1. *Denotes traits where the more complex model fit the data significantly better than the simpler model.

Table 7
Brownie results for song traits when birds are divided into either song stability (early plus delayed) and song plasticity (Two Rates) or early song stability, delayed song stability, and song plasticity (Three Rates).

Rate columns show mean log likelihood. Song traits are sorted from most to least significant.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.023
Song traitTwo ratesThree ratesp-value
Song repertoire-100.691-97.71480.015*
Syllable repertoire-107.1332-105.55320.075
Syllables/song-86.3125-86.34471
  1. *Denotes traits where the more complex model fit the data significantly better than the simpler model.

Table 8
Brownie results for song traits when birds are divided into shorter learning (early song stability) and longer learning (delayed song stability plus song plasticity).

Rate columns show mean log likelihood. Song traits are sorted from most to least significant.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.024
Song traitOne rateTwo ratesp-value
Song repertoire-100.812-97.99180.018*
Syllable repertoire-107.3206-105.84880.086
  1. *Denotes traits where the more complex model fit the data significantly better than the simpler model.

Table 9
Brownie results for song traits when birds are divided into either shorter learning (early song stability) and longer learning (delayed song stability plus song plasticity) (Two Rates) or early song stability, delayed song stability, and song plasticity (Three Rates).

Rate columns show mean log likelihood. Song traits are sorted from most to least significant.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.025
Song traitTwo ratesThree ratesp-value
Syllable repertoire-105.8156-105.55320.469
Song repertoire-97.9372-97.71480.505
  1. *Denotes traits where the more complex model fit the data significantly better than the simpler model.

Additional files

Source data 1

Adult song plasticity and stability references.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.038
Source data 2

Song feature and mating system data and references.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.039
Source code 1

Supplemental data and code.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.040
Supplementary file 1

Supplemental tables S1-23 and supplemental table legends.

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.041
Transparent reporting form
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.44454.042

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