- A new study reveals that the vast diversity of birdsong across thousands of species is composed of just eight basic acoustic building-block sounds.
- The study, published in the journal Science, analysed approximately 116,000 songs from 3,160 species.
- The nature of each song is influenced by the local environment of the species, with different patterns emerging based on habitat.
- These eight fundamental acoustic motifs, such as trills and whistles, evolved early in birdsong history and have been repeatedly adapted to local conditions, with most species using about five motifs in their repertoire.
- For instance, flat whistles are common in tropical rainforests where dense vegetation limits sound transmission, while ultrafast trills are favoured in temperate regions.
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