Contrary to what it might seem, communication through sounds is not only prevalent in terrestrial vertebrates such as birds and mammals. Reptiles, amphibians and fish, which are often considered silent, have a wide and complex vocal repertoire. Because of them, researchers at the University of Zurich have determined that the evolutionary origin of vocal communication goes back more than 400 million years.
The international team of scientists focused their latest analysis on previously unreached species. The study includes evidence from 53 species from four major groups of terrestrial vertebrates (turtles, tuatara, caecilians, and lungfish). These are audio recordings and contextual behavioral information that accompanies audio production.
“This, combined with an extensive data set based on the literature, including 1,800 different species covering the entire spectrum, shows that vocal communication is not only widespread in terrestrial vertebrates, but also demonstrates vocal abilities in many groups previously considered non-vocal. .” Explains Gabriel Jorgewich-Cohen, lead author of the research and a doctoral candidate at the UZH Institute and Museum of Paleontology.
How was it searched?
To investigate the evolutionary origins of vocal communication in vertebrates, researchers combined relevant data on the vocalization abilities of species such as lizards, snakes, salamanders, amphibians and dipnoi with methods for reconstructing phylogenetic traits. Combined with data from known vocal tracts such as mammals, birds and frogs, the researchers were able to map vocal communication in the vertebrate tree of life.
“We have been able to reconstruct vocal communication as a common characteristic of these animals, which are at least as old as their last common ancestor, which lived about 407 million years before the present,” explains Marcelo Sanchez, the researcher who led the study.
The use of vocalization as a means of communication is common among several groups of vertebrates: songbirds, grunting frogs, or barking dogs are some well-known examples. These sounds play a major role in parenting, partner attraction, and many other behaviors.
Despite its importance, little is known about when and at what point in the evolutionary history of vertebrates this behavior first appeared. To date, scientific consensus has favored a convergent origin of vocal communication between vertebrates, in which the shape and sensitivity of the auditory system, as well as vocal tract morphology, vary greatly among vertebrates. But according to the UZH researchers, the available evidence for this hypothesis is lacking relevant data from key species that have hitherto been considered non-vocal or neglected.
Sanchez concludes, “Our results now show that vocal communication did not evolve multiple times in different groups, but has an ancient and common evolutionary origin.”
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