Data from: ‘Out of tune’: consequences of inbreeding on bird song

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.鸟类鸣唱行为被认为是向雌性传递雄性品质的信号。“品质”由遗传与环境因素共同决定，但令人意外的是，目前关于雄性品质的遗传层面是否以及如何在鸣唱中体现的相关证据极为有限。本研究通过近交（inbreeding）操控了金丝雀（Serinus canaria）的遗传组成，并研究了其对鸣唱产出、复杂度、音韵特征以及鸣唱学习的影响，其中针对鸣唱学习的探究尚属首次。为此，我们构建了体重匹配的近交与远交雄性离巢雏鸟配对组，随后在鸣唱学习阶段让这些雏鸟接触同一只导师雄鸟（tutor male）。近交显著影响了鸣唱音节的音韵特征，但对其他鸣唱特征几乎无影响或影响极小。尽管如此，雌性仍能区分近交与远交雄鸟：当与远交雄鸟交配时，雌性所产的窝卵总重量更高。本研究凸显了此前常被忽视的鸣唱音韵特征的重要性。