| Description |
The complex behaviors of animals and their evolution arise from an interplay of morphological specialization and neuromuscular control mechanisms. Teasing apart the respective roles of these contributing factors can often be difficult, such as in the case of avian vocal behavior. Understanding the respective roles of morphology and neuromuscular control, however, is crucial for understanding how behavior is generated. Whereas the role of the central nervous system in avian vocal behavior has been studied extensively, the functional morphology of the vocal organ is poorly understood despite the well-described interspecific diversity in its skeletal and neuromuscular anatomy. Nevertheless, it is widely accepted that both neuromuscular and morphological specializations contribute to the production of avian vocalizations and their speciesspecific acoustic features. Here we investigate the link between avian vocal diversity and morphological diversity. |
