16 Mar
2026
16 Mar
'26
8 a.m.
Dear All,
This Wednesday (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://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).
________________________________
Scotland's University for Sporting Excellence
The University of Stirling is a charity registered in Scotland, number SC 011159
18 Mar
18 Mar
11 a.m.
New subject: BERG/SHAIR seminar today, 16:00
Dear All,
This Wednesday (4pm) we have a seminar led by Robert Aitchison (University of Stirling)
about his PhD project entitled "Seasonal Variation of Carrion Crow (Corvus corone)
Vocalisations" - 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
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.
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%7Cc5af488d315a43b39e2d08de83358e34%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639092463212292132%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=9efSbpDsrfmuEmA7TM2jR%2FzN4kA%2BULAc5DNOsxsnX%2BQ%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%7Cc5af488d315a43b39e2d08de83358e34%7C4e8d09f7cc794ccb9149a4238dd17422%7C0%7C0%7C639092463212324826%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=KI9Zjbdy0hgiVf1uXYeMwk4Sb0tGsOU32rV2ves5TKQ%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
8
days inactive
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days old
1 comments
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Pawel Fedurek