N. Creanza

Song distinguishability predicts reproductive isolation between subspecies of the dark-eyed junco

This study examines song differences between dark-eyed junco subspecies and finds that more distinguishable songs correlate with reduced hybridization and greater genetic differentiation.

The role of learned song in the evolution and speciation of Eastern and Spotted towhees

The paper analyzes song features of Eastern and Spotted towhees to assess their role in reproductive isolation and speciation.

Detecting cultural evolution in a songbird species using community-science data and computational modeling

The paper analyzes chipping sparrow song data over nearly seven decades and uses an agent-based model to infer song-learning strategies, finding low copy-error rates and rejecting neutral or conformity-based transmission.

Cultural signatures of punctuated environmental change: measuring the effects of population-wide stress on song distribution in dark-eyed juncos and song sparrows

The paper examines how a severe drought affected birdsong distribution in dark-eyed juncos and song sparrows, finding that complex songs changed more in drought-affected areas.

Fine-scale cultural variation reinforces genetic structure in England

The paper examines whether dialect-level linguistic differences in England influence genetic population structure by analyzing spatially dense linguistic and genetic data.

Modeling effects of inter-group contact on links between population size and cultural complexity

The paper models how inter-group contact affects the relationship between population size and cultural complexity, finding that connectivity can increase tool repertoire size even in smaller populations.

Cultural specialization as a double-edged sword: division into specialized guilds might promote cultural complexity at the cost of higher susceptibility to cultural loss

This paper models how cultural specialization can increase cultural complexity but also raise the risk of cultural loss during population bottlenecks.

Ornament, armament, or toolkit? Modelling how population size drives the evolution of birdsong, a functional cultural trait

The paper models how population size influences the evolution of birdsong, showing larger populations improve song quality over time and predict song element loss during bottlenecks.

Chipper: Open-source software for semi-automated segmentation and analysis of birdsong and other natural sounds

Chipper is an open-source tool for semi-automated birdsong analysis, providing segmentation and feature extraction with synthetic data testing its accuracy.

The role of early acoustic experience in song discrimination

This study shows that golden-crowned sparrow nestlings can discriminate between conspecific and heterospecific songs before song learning begins, and their responses are not influenced by prior exposure to heterospecific songs.

The evolutionary advantage of cultural memory on heterogeneous contact networks

The paper models cultural bet-hedging in evolving populations with heterogeneous contact networks, finding that cultural memory probability and network structure influence fixation probabilities of cultural traits.