Marcelo Araya-Salas

My research aims to understand the role of social learning/ cultural evolution in shaping animal vocal signals at both ecological and evolutionary time frames. I am also interested in how social learning is modulated by other evolutionary factors and the possible macro-evolutionary consequences of these processes. I tackle these questions by studying the communication systems of neotropical taxa, making use of 'single species' behavioral studies, comparative phylogenetic methods and cutting-edge acoustic analyses.

During my PhD I worked on hummingbird signaling behavior, and also explored the evolution of learned vocal signals in other groups using comparative analyses. My research as a postdoc at the Lab of Ornithology , Cornell University, focused on expanding these research avenues by looking at the evolution of learned vocalizations in hummingbirds from a phylogenetic comparative perspective. Currently I am exploring the development of social vocalizations in communal roosting bats as a postdoc at the Chaverri Lab, University of Costa Rica.

I am also deeply involved in the development of computational tools for bioacoustic analyses. Grace Smith-Vidaurre and I have created the R package warbleR that provides functions to streamline high-throughput acoustic analysis of animal sounds. More recently, I made available two new R packages (Rraven and NatureSounds) that aim to simplify the use of R for bioacoustic research. New functions as well as other analyses are detailed in my blog Bioacoustics in R.

News

Jan-2020
New paper out: Individual signatures outweigh social group identity in contact calls of a communally nesting parrot (Beh Eco)

Dec-13-2019
Talk at the National Museum of Natural Science of Madrid, CSIC

Dec-2019
Interdisciplinary multi-species bioacoustics workshop. Heidelberg Academy of Sciences, Heidelberg, Germany

Nov-27-2019
Presentation at "Agentes de investigación e innovación", University of Costa Rica

Oct-2019
Visiting at Max Planck Institute for Ornithology, Seewiesen, Germany

Sep-2019
Bioacoustics in R workshop, University of Gdansk, Gdansk, Poland, 23-25 of September

Sep-20-2019
Presentation at the Polish Evolutionary Conference: Evolutionary dynamics of vocal complexity in hummingbirds

Sep-19-2019
New paper out: coordinated parental provisioning in a seabird

Fall-2019
Teaching "Advanced R programming" at Universidad de Costa Rica

Jul-28-2019
First prize Founders award for overall outstanding poster at Behaviour 2019 Conference

Jun/Aug-2019
Mentor at OTS' REU program at La Selva Costa Rica

June-5-2019
Paper on social learning of visual displays featured in Nature News and Views

May-29-2019
Paper on social learning of visual displays in long-billed hermits on Proc Roy Soc B

May-23-2019
New version of R package Rraven (1.0.6) available on CRAN

Apr-2019
Book chapter: Perspectives on the Study of Field Hummingbird Cognition in the Neotropics

Mar-9-2019
Bioacoustics in R, Arequipa, Peru, April 26-29 (to be thaught in spanish)

Feb-26-2019
New York Times: The Hummingbird as Warrior: Evolution of a Fierce and Furious Beak

Feb-May 2019
Bioacoustics in R club at the Biology Department, Universidad de Costa Rica

Feb-16-2019
Blog post: working with higher structural levels in vocal signals

Jan-12-2019
Blog post: spectrograms on phylogenetic trees

Jan-12-2019
Blog post: comparing subset of signals in selection tables to templates using cross-correlation

Jan-2019
Starting new postdoc at the Chaverri Lab, Universidad de Costa Rica on acoustic communication in bats

Fall 2018
Bioacoustics in R fall club at the Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University

Sep-11-2018
Talk at Ornithology Seminar, Cornell University: Learning to sing (and dance): complex development of vocal and visual signals in a hummingbird

Aug-12-2018
Invited speaker, Bioacoustics Workshop, Universidad Autónoma de Chiriquí, Panama

Jul-4-2018
Blog post: issues of the 'spectral parameter/PCA' approach in bioacoustics

Jun-29-2018
Blog post on detecting frequency range on acoustic signals using frequency spectrums

Jun-2018
Invited professor at OTS's Tropical Ecology & Conservation grad course

May/Jun-2018
Judith Smit visiting the Lab of O to collaborate on hummer song evolution project

May/Jun-2018
Bioacoustics in R summer club at the Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University

Apr-06-2018
Bioacoustics in R workshop at AOS meeting in Tucson, Arizona

Mar-11-2018
Las Cruces Sun News article on hummingbird and parakeet cognition research from Wright Lab alumni

Feb-23-2018
Blog post on tracking harmonics's frequency

Feb-23-2018
Scientific America podcast about paper on duet code development in canebrake wrens coauthored with Karla Rivera-Caceres and collaborators

Feb-22-2018
Blog post on simulating bird songs in R

Feb-21-2018
New paper on duet code development in canebrake wrens coauthored with Karla Rivera-Caceres and collaborators