Dr. H. Slabbekoorn
'I am interested in fundamental scientific questions that have to do with signal evolution, for example in how the singing of birds changes in the course of time. The causes of this change inside and outside the organism are interesting, and how it affects population-dynamic processes. How do populations of the same species come to differ in their sexual signals? Do larger birds sing differently than smaller ones? Do birds sing differently if there is a lot of noise? And does a different way of singing affect the chance of reproducing? Can differences between populations related to specific habitat requirements in the rain forest, pine forest or city lead to the emergence of new species? The city is a new factor in this connection, a habitat expanding all across the globe with dramatically different selection pressures such as an increasing amount of traffic-related noise. Are we human beings not only changing the ecological conditions of the birds around us, are we also altering the course of their evolution?'