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Robert Benson

Publication Date

6-1-2003

Abstract

Many birds have evolved an extremely sophisticated and complex system of acoustic communication. Even though birdsong has been a subject of serious research since the development of light, self‑powered magnetic recorders in the late 1950s, little progress has been made toward a satisfactory understanding of how this complicated behavior may have evolved. A primary goal of avian bioacoustics is the construction of predictive models that can provide verification for suggested selection processes (both genetic and cultural) that may have been responsible for the rich complexity of present day birdsong. The recent development of Genetic Algorithms from the field of computer science may finally provide the needed tool with which to make progress. Genetic algorithms are search procedures based on the mechanics of natural selection and natural genetics, thus they are ideal for the study of the evolution of birdsong. I present preliminary results of an ongoing study at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi where genetic algorithms are being used in an attempt to tease out some of the many threads that may trace the development of modern birdsong as it evolved over thousands of generations.

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