Langmore Group - Avian evolutionary and behavioural ecology

We study many aspects of evolutionary and behavioural ecology in birds, mainly by using field experiments and observations to test evolutionary theory.

label Research theme
Evolutionary genetics and genomics

About

We study many aspects of evolutionary and behavioural ecology in birds, with particular emphasis on co-evolution between brood parasites and their hosts, signalling (songs, calls and displays), mimicry and crypsis, breeding systems, and evolutionary responses to climate change. Our main approach is to use field experiments and observations to test evolutionary theory.

Awards

Publications

Selected publications

  • Langmore, NE, Hunt, S & Kilner, RM (2003) Escalation of a coevolutionary arms race through host rejection of brood parasitic young. Nature, 422, 157-160.
  • Russell AF, Langmore NE, Cockburn A, Astheimer LB, Kilner RM. (2007). Reduced egg investment can conceal helper effects in cooperatively breeding birds. Science 317: 941-944.
  • Langmore, N.E., Maurer, G., Adcock, G.J., Kilner, R.M. (2008). Socially acquired host-specific mimicry and the evolution of host races in Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo Chalcites basalis. Evolution 62: 1689-1699.
  • Heinsohn, R., Langmore, N. E., Cockburn, A., Kokko, H. (2011) Adaptive sex ratio adjustments via sex-specific infanticide in a bird. Current Biology, 21: 1744-1747.
  • Kilner R. M. and Langmore, N. E. (2011) Cuckoos versus hosts in insects and birds: adaptations, counter-adaptations and outcomes. Biological Reviews, 86: 836-852
  • Langmore, N. E., Stevens, M., Maurer, G., Heinsohn, R., Hall, M. L., Peters, A., Kilner, R. M. (2011). Visual mimicry of host nestlings by cuckoos. Proceedings of the Royal Society: Biological Sciences 278: 2455-2463
  • Feeney, W, Medina, I, Somveille, M, Heinsohn, R, Hall, ML, Mulder, RA, Stein, JA, Kilner, RM, Langmore, NE (2013) Brood parasitism and the evolution of cooperative breeding in birds. Science 342: 1506-1508
  • Odom, KJ, Hall, ML, Riebel, K, Omland, KE, Langmore, NE (2014) Female song is common and ancestral in songbirds. Nature Communications, Published online 2014/03/04/online, Vol 5 article 3379.
  • Heinsohn, R., Zdenek, C. N., Cunningham, R. B., Endler, J., Langmore, N. E. (2017) Tool-assisted drumming in a wild bird population. Science Advances, 3 (6): e1602399
  • Riebel, K, Odom, KJ, Langmore, NE, Hall, ML. (2019) New insights from female bird song: towards an integrated approach to studying male and female communication roles. Biology Letters: 20190059
  • Crates, R, Langmore, NE, Ranjard, L, Stojanovic, D, Rayner, L, Ingwersen, D, Heinsohn, R. (2021) Loss of vocal culture has fitness consts in a critically endangered songbird. Proc. R. Soc. B. 288: 20210225.
  • Langmore, NE, Grealy, A, Noh, H-J, Medina, I, Skeels, A, Grant, J, Murray, KD, Kilner, RM, Holleley, CE (2024) Coevolution with hosts underpins speciation in brood-parasitic cuckoos. Science 384: 1030-1036  https://www.science.org/stoken/author-tokens/ST-1897/full
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All publications

Members

News

What’s that in my nest? How the evolutionary arms race between cuckoos and hosts creates new species

In new research published in Science, biologists show how coevolution drives the creation of new species of cuckoos.

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Move over magpies: are cuckoos the meanest bird?

Since it’s Bad Bird Season, we ask cuckoo apologist - sorry, cuckoo expert - Professor Naomi Langmore to explain how it could possibly be that the cuckoo doesn’t mean to be mean, when it sure looks like it does.

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Only the lonely: an endangered bird is forgetting its song as the species dies out

In healthy populations, the song of regent honeyeaters is complex and long. But where the population is very small, the song is sadly diminished.

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