Modelling birdsong transmission with methods from molecular sequence analysis

Abstract In many species of songbirds, juvenile males learn their songs from adult male tutors. In this paper we formulate a novel Markov model for birdsong transmission developed by analogy with models used in biological sequence analysis. We fit the model using the recently developed interacting particle Langevin algorithm (IPLA) of Akyildiz et al (2025 arXiv:2303.13429) and analyse a collection of songs from Java sparrows ( Lonchura oryzivora ) originally recorded and studied by Masayo Soma and her collaborators (Soma 2011 Ornithol. Sci. 10 89–100; Lewis and Soma 2021 Front. Pshychol. 12 ; Lewis and Kwong 2023 Anim. Behav. 206 61–74). The model proves to have limited predictive power for a number of natural problems associated with song transmission in Java sparrows and we propose reasons for this, including the well-established faithfulness of song-learning and the comparative brevity of Java sparrow songs.