Class 12, November 11:
Watch the video below and use Piazza (https://piazza.com/cornell/fall2015/bionb4200/home) to answer the following thought questions (due Tuesday Nov 10 before midnight). We will discuss your answers to these questions in class:
Question for Arielle and Andrew's presentation on sexual selection:
1. First, watch the video on the course website. Why should we study sexually selected acoustic signals? Do you think that studying intersexually or intrasexually selected acoustic signals would be more important in solving real world problems and why?
Questions for Maria and Conor's presentation on the neurobiology of sound production:
2. Earlier this semester, we discussed the neural pathways used by various types of organisms to produce auditory signals. As part of the discussion, we talked about how many organisms use neural loops that have input from the auditory system that are used to provide feedback to the organism as it produces its signal. Come up with a general evolutionary narrative for how an organism could develop an auditory loop that includes real-time feedback. Begin with an organism that produces a signal based on an innate template and develop your own auditory-signal loop.
3. Additionally, are there any types of auditory signals used by animals that you feel would not benefit from feedback as they are producing the signal?