近日,，科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)長(zhǎng)臂猿用來(lái)相互交流的歌聲中存在著地方口音,。
這種亞屬長(zhǎng)臂猿發(fā)現(xiàn)于越南、老撾,、柬埔寨和中國(guó)南部,，這種長(zhǎng)臂猿以其種群特異的歌聲來(lái)溝通交流、確定領(lǐng)地以及吸引配偶,。來(lái)自哥廷根德國(guó)靈長(zhǎng)類動(dòng)物研究中心的研究人員已經(jīng)發(fā)現(xiàn)這些歌聲的結(jié)構(gòu),、基因都與它們棲息的地區(qū)有著密切的關(guān)系,，從而可以解答了一些有關(guān)靈長(zhǎng)類物種進(jìn)化和遷徙的問(wèn)題,。
進(jìn)化論生物學(xué)家范玉霆（Van Ngoc Thinh）在一次新聞發(fā)布會(huì)上解釋說(shuō)：“每一只長(zhǎng)臂猿都有它自己特異的歌聲，但是,，和人類一樣,，在同一地區(qū)的長(zhǎng)臂猿的歌聲有地區(qū)相似性,。”
這項(xiàng)發(fā)表在英國(guó)醫(yī)學(xué)委員會(huì)《BMC進(jìn)化生物學(xué)》（BMC Evolutionary Biology）期刊上的研究集中研究了6種冠長(zhǎng)臂猿的歌聲結(jié)構(gòu)，特別注意了其中最接近的4種,。研究記錄了來(lái)自24個(gè)不同地區(qū),、92支猿群的400多只雄性和雌性長(zhǎng)臂猿的歌聲。
研究稱,，長(zhǎng)臂猿的歌聲結(jié)構(gòu)表現(xiàn)出一個(gè)明顯的適應(yīng)性改變,，增強(qiáng)了遠(yuǎn)距離傳播能力，這意味著它們已經(jīng)適應(yīng)了在亞洲森林中的生活環(huán)境,。用慢速調(diào)制的單頻帶播放這些歌聲,，產(chǎn)生的聲音聽起來(lái)更像熱帶雨林的鳥叫聲。
雖然在這些歌聲結(jié)構(gòu)中有很多相似之處,，但就個(gè)體嗓音而言,，仍會(huì)存在許多差異。通過(guò)利用物種基因?qū)W對(duì)53種不同的聲音進(jìn)行比對(duì)分析,，科學(xué)家發(fā)現(xiàn)其中有4種歌聲最為相似,，而發(fā)出這4種歌聲的長(zhǎng)臂猿物種有著最相近的DNA，相互關(guān)系也最為親近,。同時(shí)科學(xué)家還發(fā)現(xiàn)來(lái)自最南邊地區(qū)的長(zhǎng)臂猿比那些在較北邊越南和中國(guó)的長(zhǎng)臂猿更相近,，這就表明長(zhǎng)臂猿的發(fā)源地在較為北邊的地區(qū)，普遍向南遷徙,。
通過(guò)這些研究,，科學(xué)家推斷出其它靈長(zhǎng)類的歌聲和叫聲可能也會(huì)有地區(qū)差異，因此,，這些研究成果可以更廣泛的用于識(shí)別物種關(guān)系以及確定它們的遷徙經(jīng)歷,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
生物谷推薦原文出處：
BMC Evolutionary Biology 2011, 11:36 doi:10.1186/1471-2148-11-36
Concordance between vocal and genetic diversity in crested gibbons
Van Ngoc Thinh , Chris Hallam , Christian Roos and Kurt Hammerschmidt
Background
Gibbons or small apes are, next to great apes, our closest living relatives, and form the most diverse group of contemporary hominoids. A characteristic trait of gibbons is their species-specific song structure, which, however, exhibits a certain amount of inter- and intra-individual variation. Although differences in gibbon song structure are routinely applied as taxonomic tool to identify subspecies and species, it remains unclear to which degree acoustic and phylogenetic differences are correlated. To trace this issue, we comparatively analyse song recordings and mitochondrial cytochrome b gene sequence data from 22 gibbon populations representing six of the seven crested gibbon species (genus Nomascus). In addition, we address whether song similarity and geographic distribution can support a recent hypothesis about the biogeographic history of crested gibbons.
Results
The acoustic analysis of 92 gibbon duets confirms the hypothesised concordance between song structure and phylogeny. Based on features of male and female songs, we can not only distinguish between N. nasutus, N. concolor and the four southern species (N. leucogenys, N. siki, N. annamensis, N. gabriellae), but also between the latter by applying more detailed analysis. In addition to the significant correlation between song structure and genetic similarity, we find a similar high correlation between song similarity and geographic distance.
Conclusions
The results show that the structure of crested gibbon songs is not only a reliable tool to verify phylogenetic relatedness, but also to unravel geographic origins. As vocal production in other nonhuman primate species appears to be evolutionarily based, it is likely that loud calls produced by other species can serve as characters to elucidate phylogenetic relationships.
