Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

I study interactive communication, which occurs when individuals reciprocally exchange signals. My research program has contributed influential theory, methods, and findings about interactive communication in dyads. I am now expanding the scope of my research to study interactive communication in networks. Interactive communication networks are common, diverse, and important (e.g., cell-signalling networks, online communities), but animal communication networks are poorly understood. My model system is a songbird called Adelaide's warbler, in which networks of neighbouring males sing interactively while females listen. Objective 1: Characterize an interactive communication network HQP and I will simultaneously record a focal male and his neighbours. We will describe their interactive communication network and model the focal male's signal choice as a function of his own preferred signal sequence and the influence of its neighbours' signals. Objectives 2 and 3 support Objective 1, by elucidating the functions of the signals that birds exchange in communication networks. Obj. 2: Test the functions of signal repertoires Adelaide's warblers sing song type repertoires (avg = 29 songs) that are divided into 2 categories. Some song types are shared with other males. We will use existing data to test the function of song categories and shared song types. Obj. 3: Test the functional significance of song performance "Performance" measures how demanding a song is to sing. We will use existing data to study how motivation, individual ability, and climate change affect performance. We will also run experiments to test whether females prefer high performance song, and whether song type matching (a common behaviour in birds) facilitates accurate choice. Impacts Collective behavior theory models the behaviour of individuals in groups (e.g., crowds of people, hordes of locusts), by assuming that rules govern how individuals interact with one another. Communication network theory models the flow of information over a network of communicating individuals. My research advances the study of animal communication by synthesizing collective behaviour theory with network communication theory to model information flow through a network of individuals that follow interaction rules. This research also benefits academic disciplines outside of animal communication and society. Its methods and findings can be applied to traditional (e.g., meetings) and emerging (computer-aided) interactive communication networks in humans. Basic research on interactive communication could lead to better diagnosis and treatment of pathological communication in humans. Many of the methods and hypotheses I use to study birdsong performance can be applied to human performance (e.g., sport, dance). Immediate practical benefits of this work include HQP development, added attention to under-studied tropical systems, and an improved understanding of the effects of climate change on wildlife.