William A. Searcy

Maytag Professor of Ornithology 264 Cox Science Center, Dept. of Biology
1301 Memorial Drive, Coral Gables, FL 33124

(305)284-2065
Fax (305)284-3039

email
Laboratory Website

Education and Professional Experience

  • University of California, Davis, California 9/68 - 6/69
  • University of California, Berkeley, California 9/69 - 6/72, B.A. Zoology
  • University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 9/72 - 8/77, Ph.D. Zoology
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Rockefeller University 1/78 - 6/81
  • Assistant Professor, Rockefeller University 7/81 - 8/82
  • Assistant Professor, University of Pittsburgh 9/82 - 6/88
  • Associate Professor, University of Pittsburgh 7/88 - 8/94
  • Professor and Maytag Chair, University of Miami 8/94 - present

Grants and Awards

  • National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Support Grant. June, 1975. Sexual selection and red-winged blackbirds.
  • Public Health National Research Service Traineeship. 8/78 - 6/81.
  • National Science Foundation Grant. 10/83 - 3/86. Functions and consequences of female-female interactions. $50,000.
  • National Science Foundation Grant. 6/86 - 11/89. Comparative studies of vocal communication. $99,000.
  • National Science Foundation Grant. 12/89 - 11/92. Experimental studies of male-female communication. $61,000.
  • National Science Foundation International Program Grant. 4/90 - 8/90. Origin of polygyny in a polyterritorial system. $10,300.
  • National Science Foundation Grant. 1995-1998. Perception, function and development of complex vocal signals. $39,000.
  • National Science Foundation Grant. 1999-2002. Collaborative research: complexity and information in avian signals. $57,000.
  • National Science Foundation Grant 2003-2007. Collaborative research: Developmetal receiver-dependent costs of avian signals. $150,000.
  • Virginia Merill Bloedel Hearing Research Center (University of Washington) Visiting Scholar
  • Allen L. Edwards LEcturer, Department of Psychology, University of Washinton 2008
  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Fellow, American Ornithologists' Union
  • Fellow, Animal Behavior Society

Areas of Focus

Behavior and Behavioral Ecology
Evolutionary Biology

Research Interests

My principal research interest is in animal communication. I have for many years investigated functional aspects of bird song in collaboration with Steve Nowicki and Susan Peters of Duke University. One focus of this work has been on exploring the implications of proximate mechanisms of song development and song neurobiology for ultimate questions concerning the function of song in male-female communication. This focus has led to investigations of the effects of early nutritional stress on the development of the brain nuclei that control song and on the quality of song learning, using song and swamp sparrows as study organisms. We have also examined, using song sparrows, the preferences of females for well-learned over poorly-learned songs and for local over foreign songs. Another focus of our song work has been on how singing behaviors are used in aggressive signaling between male birds. We have examined a variety of possible aggressive signals in song sparrows, including song type matching, partial matching, song type and variant switching frequencies, and the use of low amplitude "soft song." We are especially interested in determining which behaviors are reliable indicators of attack and in elucidating the mechanisms that maintain reliability.

Teaching Interests

Evolution (a course for graduate students and senior undergraduates, covering topics such as natural selection, speciation, macroevolution, and extinction); Animal Behavior (a course for undergraduates in mechanisms and evolution of animal behavior); Biology of Birds (a course for undergraduates with field, laboratory, and lecture components, emphasizing ecology, evolution, and natural history of birds); and various graduate seminars (including Animal Communication, Sexual Selection, Sensory Ecology).

Publications

    Books

  • Searcy, W. A., and K. Yasukawa. 1995. Polygyny and Sexual Selection in Red-winged Blackbirds. Princeton University Press.
  • Searcy, W. A., and S. Nowicki 2005. The Evolution of Animal Communication: Reliability and Deception in Signaling Systems. Princeton University Press, Princeton, New Jersey.

    • Journal Articles

  • Searcy, W. A. and S. Nowicki. 2000. Male-male competition and female choice in the evolution of vocal signaling. in Y. Espmark, T. Amundsen, and G. Rosenquist (eds) Animal Signals: Signalling and Signal Design in Animal Communication. pp. 301-315 Tapir Academic Press, Trondheim, Norway.
  • Searcy, W. A., S. Nowicki, and C. Hogan. 2000. Song type variants and aggressive context. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 48:358-363.
  • Peters, S., W. A. Searcy, M. D. Beecher, and S. Nowicki. 2000. Geographic variation in the organization of song sparrow repertoires. Auk 117:936-942.
  • Pribil, S., and W. A. Searcy. 2001. Experimental confirmation of the polygyny threshold model for red-winged blackbirds. Proceedings of the Royal Society (London) B 268:1643-1646.
  • Nowicki, S., W. A. Searcy, M. Hughes, and J. Podos. 2001. The evolution of bird song: male and female response to song innovation in swamp sparrows. Animal Behaviour 62:1189-1195.
  • Searcy, W. A., S. Nowicki, M. Hughes, and S. Peters. 2002. Geographic song discrimination in relation to dispersal distance in song sparrows. American Naturalist 159:221-230.
  • Nowicki, S., W. A. Searcy, T. Krueger, and M. Hughes. 2002. Individual variation in response to simulated territorial challenge among territory-holding song sparrows. Journal of Avian Biology 33:253-259.
  • Nowicki, S., W. A. Searcy, T. Krueger, and M. Hughes. 2002. Individual variation in response to simulated territorial challenge among territory-holding song sparrows. Journal of Avian Biology 33:253-259.
  • Nowicki, S., W. A. Searcy, and S. Peters. 2002. Brain development, song learning, and mate choice in birds: a review and experimental test of the "nutritional stress hypothesis." J. Comp. Phys. A 188:1003-1014.
  • Searcy, W. A., S. Nowicki, and S. Peters. 2003. Phonology and geographic song discrimination in song sparrows. Ethology 109:23-35.
  • Hyman, J., M. Hughes, W. A. Searcy, and S. Nowicki. 2004. Individual variation in the strength of territory defense in male song sparrows: Correlates of age, territory tenure, and neighbor aggressiveness. Behaviour 141:15-27.
  • Searcy, W. A., S. Peters, and S. Nowicki. 2004. Effects of early nutrition on growth rate and adult size in song sparrows. Journal of Avian Biology.35:269-279.
  • Nowicki, S. & W. A. Searcy. 2004. Song function and the evolution of female preferences: Why birds sing and why brains matter. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1016:704-723.
  • Nowicki, S. and W. A. Searcy. 2005. Song and mate choice in birds: How the development of behavior helps us understand its function. Auk 122:1-14.
  • Anderson, R. C., W. A. Searcy, and S. Nowicki. 2005. Partial song matching in an eastern population of song sparrows, Melospiza melodia. Animal Behaviour 69:189-196.
  • Nowicki, S. and W. A. Searcy. 2005. Adaptive priorities in brain development: theoretical comment of Pravosudov et al. (2005). Behavioral Neuroscience. 119:1415-1418.
  • Searcy, W. A., R. C. Anderson, and S. Nowicki. 2006. Bird song as a signal of aggressive intent. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 60:234-241.
  • Searcy, W. A., and S. Nowicki. 2006. Signal interception and the use of soft song in aggressive interactions. Ethology 112:865-872.
  • Hughes, M., R. C. Anderson, W. A. Searcy, L. M. Bottensek, and S. Nowicki. 2007. Song type sharing and territory tenure in eastern song sparrows: implications for the evolution of song repertoires. Animal Behaviour 73: 701-710.
  • Anderson, R. C., S. Nowicki, and W. A. Searcy. 2007. Soft song in song sparrows: response of males and females to an enigmatic signal. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 61: 1267-1274.
  • Ballentine, B., W. A. Searcy, and S. Nowicki. 2008. Reliable aggressive signalling in swamp sparrows. Animal Behaviour. 75:693-703.
  • Searcy, W. A., R. C. Anderson, and S. Nowicki. 2008. Is bird song a reliable signal of aggressive intent? A reply. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 62:1213-1216.
  • Anderson, R. C., W. A. Searcy, and S. Nowicki. 2008. Testing the function of song matching in birds: responses of eastern male song sparrows Melospiza melodia to partial song matching. Behaviour. 145:347-363.
  • Anderson, R. C., W. A. Searcy, S. Peters, and S. Nowicki. 2008. Soft song in song sparrows: acoustic structure and implications for signal function. Ethology 114:662-676.
  • Searcy, W. A., and S. Nowicki. 2008. Bird song and the problem of honest communication. American Scientist 96:114-121.
  • Krueger, T. R., D. A. Williams, and W. A. Searcy. 2008. The genetic mating system of a tropical tanager. Condor 110:559-562.
  • Searcy, W. A., and S. Nowicki. 2009. Sexual selection and the evolution of animal signals. in L. R. Squires (ed) Encyclopedia of Neuroscience. v. 8, pp. 769-776.
  • DuBois, A. L, S. Nowicki, and W. A. Searcy. 2009. Swamp sparrows modulate vocal Performance in aggressive contexts. Biology Letters 5:163-165.
  • Ackay, C., W. E. Wood, W. A. Searcy, C. N. Templeton, S. E. Campbell, and M. D. Beecher. 2009. Good neighbour, bad neighbour: song sparrows retaliate against aggressive rivals. Animal Behaviour 78:97-102.
  • Searcy, W. A., and S. Nowicki. 2009 Consequences of brain development for sexual signaling in songbirds. pages 71-87 In R. Dukas and J. M. Ratcliffe (eds) Cognitive Ecology II. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
  • Searcy, W. A., and M. D. Beecher. 2009. Song as an aggressive signal in songbirds. Animal Behaviour. 78:1281-1292.
  • Stai, S. M., and W. A. Searcy. 2010. Passive sperm loss and patterns of sperm precedence in Muscovy ducks. Auk 127:495-502
  • Searcy, W. A., S. Peters, S. Kipper, and S. Nowicki. 2010. Female response to song reflects developmental history in swamp sparrows. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology 65:1343-1349.
  • DuBois, A. L., S. Nowicki, and W. A. Searcy. in press. Discrimination of vocal performance by male swamp sparrows. Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology.
  • Searcy, W. A. and M. D. Beecher. in press. Continued scepticism that song overlapping is a signal. Animal Behaviour.
Dept. of Biology, Cox Science Ctr.
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