title: 'Out of tune': consequences of inbreeding on bird song.
abstract: The expression of bird song is expected to signal male quality to females. 'Quality' is determined by genetic and environmental factors, but, surprisingly, there is very limited evidence if and how genetic aspects of male quality are reflected in song. Here, we manipulated the genetic make-up of canaries (Serinus canaria) via inbreeding, and studied its effects upon song output, complexity, phonetics and, for the first time, song learning. To this end, we created weight-matched inbred and outbred pairs of male fledglings, which were subsequently exposed to the same tutor male during song learning. Inbreeding strongly affected syllable phonetics, but there were little or no effects on other song features. Nonetheless, females discriminated among inbred and outbred males, as they produced heavier clutches when mated with an outbred male. Our study highlights the importance of song phonetics, which has hitherto often been overlooked.
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium raissa.deboer@uantwerpen.be.
authors.forename: Raïssa A
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-6064-6562
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: de Boer
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Eens
authors.affiliation: Behavioural Ecology and Ecophysiology Group, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Wilrijk, Belgium.
authors.forename: Wendt
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Müller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002171:Canaries / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D007178:Inbreeding; D007858:Learning; D008297:Male; D014828:Vocalization, Animal
keywords: acoustic features; canary; heterozygosity; song learning