Preface to the Princeton Landmarks in Biology Edition vii Preface xi Symbols Used xiii 1. The Importance of Islands 3 2. Area and Number of Speicies 8 3. Further Explanations of the Area-Diversity Pattern 19 4. The Strategy of Colonization 68 5. Invasibility and the Variable Niche 94 6. Stepping Stones and Biotic Exchange 123 7. Evolutionary Changes Following Colonization 145 8. Prospect 181 Glossary 185 References 193 Index 201

The Theory of Island Biogeography

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/197/4300/215.full.pdf

Ecology, sexual selection, and the evolution of mating systems

Combination of seven surveys of blood parasites in North American passerines reveals weak, highly significant association over species between incidence of chronic blood infections (five genera of protozoa and one nematode) and striking display (three characters: male "brightness," female "brightness," and male song). This result conforms to a model of sexual selection in which (i) coadaptational cycles of host and parasites generate consistently positive offspring-on-parent regression of fitness, and (ii) animals choose mates for genetic disease resistance by scrutiny of characters whose full expression is dependent on health and vigor.

http://max2.ese.u-psud.fr/epc/conservation/PDFs/HIPE/Hamilton1982.pdf

Heritable true fitness and bright birds: a role for parasites?

I. the origin of species by means of natural selection

Beginning with Emlen (1966) and MacArthur and Pianka (1966) and extending through the last ten years, several authors have sought to predict the foraging behavior of animals by means of mathematical models. These models are very similar,in that they all assume that the fitness of a foraging animal is a function of the efficiency of foraging measured in terms of some "currency" (Schoener, 1971) -usually energy- and that natural selection has resulted in animals that forage so as to maximize this fitness. As a result of these similarities, the models have become known as "optimal foraging models"; and the theory that embodies them, "optimal foraging theory." The situations to which optimal foraging theory has been applied, with the exception of a few recent studies, can be divided into the following four categories: (1) choice by an animal of which food types to eat (i.e., optimal diet); (2) choice of which patch type to feed in (i.e., optimal patch choice); (3) optimal allocation of time to different patches; and (4) optimal patterns and speed of movements. In this review we discuss each of these categories separately, dealing with both the theoretical developments and the data that permit tests of the predictions. The review is selective in the sense that we emphasize studies that either develop testable predictions or that attempt to test predictions in a precise quantitative manner. We also discuss what we see to be some of the future developments in the area of optimal foraging theory and how this theory can be related to other areas of biology. Our general conclusion is that the simple models so far formulated are supported are supported reasonably well by available data and that we are optimistic about the value both now and in the future of optimal foraging theory. We argue, however, that these simple models will requre much modification, espicially to deal with situations that either cannot easily be put into one or another of the above four categories or entail currencies more complicated that just energy.

Citation classic - optimal foraging - a selective review of theory and tests

1.

Acoustic communication requires not only detection of the signal but also discrimination of differences among signals by the receiver. Attenuation and degradation of acoustic signals during transmission through the atmosphere will impose limits on acoustic communication. Attenuation of sound during atmospheric transmission results primarily from atmospheric absorption, ground attenuation, scattering of a sound beam, and deflection of sound by stratified media. For maximum range of detection, therefore, animals should favor optimal positions in their habitat and optimal weather conditions. Frequency-dependent attenuation seems not to differ consistently among major classes of terrestrial habitats, such as forests and fields. Increased scattering of higher frequencies from vegetation in forests is in part matched by scattering from micrometerological heterogeneities in the open.




2.

In addition to frequency-dependent attenuation, two kinds of degradation during atmospheric transmission will limit a receiver's ability to resolve differences among acoustic signals: the accumulation of irregular amplitude fluctuations from nonstationary heterogeneities, often atmospheric turbulence, and reverberation. Both types of degradation affect temporal patterns of amplitude or intensity modulation more than patterns of frequency modulation. Both effects should increase with carrier frequency, as they depend on the relationship between wavelength and the dimensions of scattering heterogeneities. Irregular amplitude fluctuations are more severe in open habitats and primarily mask low frequencies of amplitude modulation; reverberations are more severe in forested habitats and primarily mask high frequencies of amplitude modulation and rapid, repetitive frequency modulation. This difference between forested and open habitats could explain previous reports that birds in the undergrowth of tropical forests avoid rapid frequency modulation in their long-range vocalizations.




3.

Maximum range of detection is probably not the primary selection pressure on many animal vocalizations, even for territorial advertisement, except perhaps in tropical forests. Instead, acoustic signals might incorporate features that degrade predictably with range to permit a receiver to estimate the signaler's distance. Future investigations might explore the propagation of animal vocalizations in relation to the usual spacing of animals in their habitat. Features that encode different kinds of information, such as individual and species identity, might propagate to different distances.




4.

Measurements of the transmission of sound in natural environments have often not controlled several important parameters. First, the effects of gound attenuation and scattering are not linear with range; consequently measurements of excess attenuation over different ranges in the same environment might differ. Second, the directionality of speakers and microphones will affect measurements of attenuation and reverberations in scattering environments. Third, as stationary waves shift with frequency, any single microphone placement will lie in a null for some frequencies and in a maximum for others.

Physical constraints on acoustic communication in the atmosphere: Implications for the evolution of animal vocalizations

5 – Adaptations for Acoustic Communication in Birds: Sound Transmission and Signal Detection

Effective communication requires that the receiver not only detect the presence of a signal but also discriminate significant variations in signals. Consequently, both attenuation and degradation o...

Reverberations and Amplitude Fluctuations in the Propagation of Sound in a Forest: Implications for Animal Communication

Correlations of social structure, life-history patterns, and ecology among the seventeen species of grouse exemplify some general patterns in the evolution of mating systems among higher vertebrates. The species of grouse differ in the aggregation of displaying males, the permanence of heterosexual affiliations, the contributions of males to parental care, and the breeding sex ratio. Promiscous species (no durable heterosexual affiliation) are probably all polynous (the breeding sex ratio less than unity), but fall into two groups depending on whether the displaying males congregate at leks or disperse relatively evenly. In all of these promiscuous, polygymous species and in three monogramous species, the female cares for the young; dual parental care appears only in one monogamous species. During their first year, the males of polynous species do not mate or mate much less frequently, although females normally breed at one year of age, a situation termed sexual bimaturism. At least among birds and mammal...

https://www.fws.gov/southwest/es/documents/R2ES/LitCited/LPC_2012/Wiley_1974.pdf

Evolution of social organization and life-history patterns among grouse.

To investigate adaptations for long-range acoustic communication in birds, I analyzed associations between broad categories of habitats and properties of territorial songs for eastern North American oscines. From published recordings. I obtained three frequency properties (maximal, minimal, and dominant) and three temporal properties of songs (presence of sidebands, presence of buzzes, minimal period of repeated elements). Sidebands and buzzes indicated rapid amplitude modulation of a carrier frequency. Habitats occupied by territorial males were classified into six categories (broad-leaved or mixed forest, coniferous forest, parkland or forest edge, shrubland, grassland, and marshes). Frequencies in songs correlated strongly with body size, which varied among habitats. Analysis of covariance and phylogenetic regression, after controlling for body size, revealed an association of maximal but not dominant or minimal frequencies with habitat. In contrast, the temporal properties of song were all strongly as...

R. Haven Wiley

Papers

Physical constraints on acoustic communication in the atmosphere: Implications for the evolution of animal vocalizations

5 – Adaptations for Acoustic Communication in Birds: Sound Transmission and Signal Detection

Reverberations and Amplitude Fluctuations in the Propagation of Sound in a Forest: Implications for Animal Communication

Evolution of social organization and life-history patterns among grouse.

Associations of Song Properties with Habitats for Territorial Oscine Birds of Eastern North America