New study reveals why some birds are about that bass

New study reveals why some birds are all about that bass

Birds produce an impressive series of songs and calls, but the biological and organic factors that affect the pitch or frequencies that birds create have not been well understood – so far.

Previous studies have not come to a consensus because they were small in scope, focusing on an individual species or a specific interval. But in the largest study of its kind, researchers analyzed more than 140,000 recordings from 77% of the bird species in 12 geographical regions around the world to determine the physical and ecological factors affecting the acoustic frequencies of birds. They used citizen-science data collected on Xeno-Canto, a site dedicated to the admission and sharing of sounds from wildlife.

“It’s great to confirm and quantify the influences over such an impressive number of species,” Tom Bradfer -Lawrence, a senior conservationist in the United Kingdom’s Royal Society for Protection of Birds, who was not involved in the study, told Mongabay of E email. The extent of the research is “impressive,” he said.

The study examined several factors that could affect bird call frequencies, including body mass, beak size, habitat and vegetation density, range and the latitude where birds live. They also looked at acoustic competition from other birds and whose birds learned their vocalization from a parent or emerged from the egg with a congenital song to sing.

The study found that body mass and beak size were the largest factors that contributed to a bird’s call frequency. Large birds generally tend to vocalize at lower frequencies, while smaller birds produce higher frequencies. Birds with larger beak sizes also seem to sing at lower frequencies compared to those with smaller beak.

The results of the study may have important use of conservation, says HS Sathya Chandra Sagar, the study’s lead author and a PhD. Students at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, USA

“In the tropics and all over the world, bigger birds tend to be hunted for meat. Larger birds are assumed to call a low frequency, and if we find no sound in the lower frequency, we can say that there may be more hunting in this landscape, ”he said in a press release.

A popular hypothesis suggests that birds living in dense forests would vocalize at low frequencies as low sounds can jump past objects more effectively. However, the data collected in this study does not support this hypothesis.

Conversely, scientists found that birds living near the sea or rivers, a constant source of white noise with low frequency, “tends to vocalize at a higher frequency that may not be drowned by the sound of water , “Study co -author Zuzana Burivalova, an assistant professor at UW – Madison, told Mongabay per. Telephone.

This article by Bobby Bascomb was first published by Mongabay.com on January 13, 2025. Picture of NatHaphat Chotjuckdikul via Macaulay Library.

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