[BERG] Re: BERG/SHAIR seminar today, 16:00

Dear All, Apologies - the wrong title/abstract of Rob's talk was circulated earlier today. Please see below the correct version: Seasonal Variation of Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) Vocalisations Seasonal changes can influence avian vocal behaviour, yet the seasonality of carrion crow (Corvus corone) vocalisations remains unstudied. Often linked to breeding cycles and environmental factors, vocalisations are important for mate attraction, territory defence, and social cohesion. This study investigates whether carrion crow vocal behaviour varies across calendar (spring, summer, autumn, winter) and biological (breeding: March–June; non-breeding: July–February) seasons. Acoustic data collected from focal and scan sampling at two sites in Stirling will be used to quantify acoustic features: temporal, frequency, and structural. Environmental predictors including location, time of day, weather conditions, season, and human activity will be recorded concomitantly. Currently 1,745 audio recordings over 11 months have been collated. Generalised linear mixed models will be used to assess seasonal factors on vocal behaviour whilst accounting for repeated observations of crows and sampling sessions as random effects. Likelihood ratio tests will evaluate the significance of predictors, and post-hoc comparisons will identify differences between seasonal groups. This study will provide the first assessment of seasonal vocal variation in carrion crow and to improve our understanding of which environmental factors influence corvid communication and behavioural ecology. Best wishes, Pawel ------------------------------- Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) School of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK @pawel-fedurek<https://bsky.app/profile/pawel-fedurek.bsky.social> @berg-stirling<https://bsky.app/profile/berg-stirling.bsky.social> Staff webpage<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG webpage<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/research-groups/behaviour-and-evolution-research-group/> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ From: Pawel Fedurek &lt;pawel.fedurek(a)stir.ac.uk&gt; Sent: 18 March 2026 08:00 To: berg Mailing List &lt;berg(a)lists.stir.ac.uk&gt; Subject: [BERG] BERG/SHAIR seminar today, 16:00 Dear All, A quick remider that today (4pm) we have a seminar led by Robert Aitchison (University of Stirling) entitled "Effects of Increasing Spatial Distribution on Carrion Crow (Corvus corone) Vocalisation Patterns" - abstract below. The meeting will be held in person/hybrid in the Psychology Common Room. To those joining online: please find a link to the meeting below. Abstract Geographic variation in acoustic signalling of passerines is widely documented, yet evidence for alterations in Corvidae vocalisations, specifically carrion crows (Corvus corone), remains outmoded. Vocalisations play important roles in mate attraction, territorial defence, and social unity; this study investigates whether increasing spatial distribution influences vocal variation in carrion crows and whether spatially separated populations exhibit acoustic divergence. Audio recordings were sourced from the bioacoustic library Xeno-canto, in addition to focal sampling performed at the University of Stirling, and Stirling city centre. Currently 3,500 audio files have been collated, all recordings standardised and analysed using spectral and temporal bioacoustic methods. Acoustic features such as call rate, call duration, fundamental frequency (F0) parameters, and frequency bandwidth will be extracted using Praat. Principal component analysis will reduce dimensionality of acoustic variables; permuted discriminant function analysis will assess community-level variation while controlling for individual identity. Spatial patterns will be evaluated using geographic distance matrices and k-nearest neighbour analysis. Generalised linear mixed models will examine the influence of environmental variables: location, urbanisation level, and calendar and breeding seasons. The results will explicate whether carrion crow vocalisations vary with increasing spatial distance and environmental context, providing new insights into corvid communication and population divergence. Link to the meeting: BERG research seminars | Meeting-Join | Microsoft Teams<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2F… Best wishes, Pawel ------------------------------- Dr Pawel Fedurek (he/his) Lecturer in Psychology Behaviour and Evolution Research Group (BERG) School of Psychology, Faculty of Natural Sciences University of Stirling Stirling, FK9 4LA Scotland, UK @pawel-fedurek<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbsky.app%2Fprofile%2Fpawel-fedurek.bsky.social&data=05%7C02%7Cpawel.fedurek%40stir.ac.uk%7C6c9921d98b1c4dba652508de84c7cf1e%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639094190864161972%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=49T7sBXsFJse5y0arY9kUwB6I%2FMLR5oG7j15uFQbb24%3D&reserved=0<https://bsky.app/profile/pawel-fedurek.bsky.social>> @berg-stirling<https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fbsky.app%2Fprofile%2Fberg-stirling.bsky.social&data=05%7C02%7Cpawel.fedurek%40stir.ac.uk%7C6c9921d98b1c4dba652508de84c7cf1e%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639094190864188142%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=ge6AaZISLPlXX6xkVOwZdFf9xRAy0eGu35ixRtAqSWo%3D&reserved=0<https://bsky.app/profile/berg-stirling.bsky.social>> Staff webpage<https://www.stir.ac.uk/people/1080868> | BERG webpage<https://www.stir.ac.uk/about/faculties/natural-sciences/our-research/research-groups/behaviour-and-evolution-research-group/> I aim to reply within 3 working days (my working days are between Monday and Friday). ________________________________ Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159 ________________________________ Scotland’s University for Sporting Excellence The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159