RT13: Bird song and systematics

R.O. Prum1 & J.M.E Vielliard2

1Natural History Museum, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS 66045-2545, USA, e-mail prum@falcon.cc.ukans.edu, 2Unicamp, Zoologia, CP 6109, 13083-970 Campinas, SP, Brazil

Prum, R.O. & Vielliard, J.M.E. 1999. Bird song and systematics. In: Adams, N.J. & Slotow, R.H. (eds) Proc. 22 Int. Ornithol. Congr., Durban: 3186. Johannesburg: BirdLife South Africa.

At the 21st IOC in Vienna, an interdisciplinary discussion was begun on the applications of bird vocalisations to the study of avian systematics (Bioacoustics 1995, 6(2): 171-174). We propose to follow up with a second round table discussion on the general principles and research advances in this field. We will pursue the following questions: (1) What effect does vocal learning have on the application of vocal behaviour to systematics? (2) Are different vocalisations or different taxa more amenable to character analysis? (3) How should vocal homology be defined, measured, and tested? (3) Is it possible to do phylogenetic analysis on vocal behaviour? Participants from all areas of systematics and behaviour are encouraged to attend. Investigators are also encouraged to present briefly the results of any recent or current research in this area.