Martínez-Ramírez, Tanya

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    Conservation practices induce dialect formation in the endangered Puerto Rican amazon (Amazona vittata)
    (2016) Martínez-Ramírez, Tanya; Logue, David M.; College of Arts and Sciences - Sciences; Oleksyk, Taras; Macchiavelli, Raul; Department of Biology; Riquelme, Ernesto
    Captive breeding is a conservation strategy that often results in behavioral changes in animals born and reared in captivity. Culturally transmitted behaviors, such as learned vocal signals, are particularly prone to change because captive animals have limited opportunities to learn behaviors from wild animals. Changes in learned behavior could affect the success of reintroduction programs once captive animals are released into the wild. I tested for the presence of vocal divergence of learned calls in the repertoires of geographically separated populations of Puerto Rican amazons (Amazona vittata). I recorded parrots from two captive and two wild populations, representing all existing populations of this species. I also recorded parrots that had been translocated between populations and evaluated their vocal changes over time. Luscinia software was used to compare calls from different populations using a dynamic time warping algorithm. Discriminant function analyses was used to test for the presence of differences between populations. I found evidence of acoustic differences in all four populations and considered these differences to be discrete enough to be classified as separate dialects. Captive parrots that had regular vocal interaction with wild parrots produced calls that were similar to those produced by wild parrots. Parrots that had been translocated between populations were able to adopt the dialect of the foreign population. The emergence of dialects in this species likely resulted from a combination of historical rearing practices, cultural drift, and geographic separation. Managers of this species should consider employing strategies that will facilitate parrots’ abilities to acquire foreign vocal signals prior to release.