Depauperate meme pool of vocal signals in an island population of singing honeyeaters

The songs of singing honeyeater, Meliphaga virescens, populations on an island and the mainland of Western Australia were compared. For the island population as a whole, the pool of syllable types (memes) from which whole songs are constructed was smaller than for the mainland meme pool. The island population also had fewer song types, syllable types per song, total syllables per song and notes per song. The reduction in signal diversity is likely to be caused by a founder effect. A previous report on these same populations showed that island and mainland birds do not respond to each other's songs. (C) 1996 The Association for the Study of Animal Behaviour