Michael Beecher, Ph.D.
Professor Emeritus
(206) 543-6545
Advising:
Does not accept or train psychology graduate students.
Areas:
Neural Systems and Behavior
Interests: Animal Behavior, Animal Communication, Sensory Processes
Links:
Research
My present research focuses on the function and the development of song. Our study species is the song sparrow. The first aspect (function) is pursued in the field, via a long-term banding and recording program combined with field experiments (mostly playback studies). The second aspect (development) is pursued both in the field, where we focus on young males we have banded in the nest or netted during their first summer, and in the laboratory, where we attempt to recreate the key conditions identified in the field studies. We hope to identify the interactive features of singing that make social (live) tutors so much more effective than non-interactive tape tutors.
Education
Boston University (1970)
- December 11, 2013 Mike Beecher (Professor) and Çağlar Akçay (postdoc) describe the impact of personality variables (e.g. strong silent type vs signalers) on aggression and violent behaviors of song sparrows in Nature News and the UW News..
- July 12, 2012 Michael Beecher was selected for a 4-year term on College Council starting this fall quarter 2012.
- May 21, 2012 Mike Beecher and Eliot Brenowitz were featured in a Seattle Times front page story.
- March 2, 2011 Michael Beecher was quoted...
- October 27, 2009 Michael Beecher’s work with sparrows was featured in the October 20 on-line Seattle Post-Intelligencer
- October 20, 2009 Michael Beecher's work with sparrows was featured in the October 20 on-line Seattle Post-Intelligencer "From baby bird babble to full song, sparrows learn to communicate by listening"
- June 16, 2009 The following people were honored at the May 27, 2009 research festival.
- May 27, 2009 Congratulations to Michael D. Beecher, winner of the 2009 Davida Teller Distinguished Faculty Mentor Award
- April 13, 2009 Michael Beecher was the recipient of the 2009 Davida Teller Distinguished Faculty Award.
- June 5, 2007 Mike Beecher's work was featured in University Week. "Are babies like birds -- learning by listening in?"
- May 31, 2007 Are babies like birds - learning by listening in?
- September 5, 2006 Mike Beecher received the Animal Behavior Society’s Exemplar Award at the 2007 meeting in Vermont.
- July 11, 2005 Chris Templeton and Mike Beecher were featured in the Seattle Times.
- April 4, 2005 Mike Beecher and Eliot Brenowitz's work on songbirds and the human brain was highlighted in the on-line version of University Week.
- Akçay, Ç, †Reed, V. A., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2014) Song sparrows do not learn more songs from aggressive tutors. Animal Behaviour, 94, 151-159.
- Akçay, Ç., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2014) Individual differences affect honest signalling in a songbird. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 281, 20132496.
- Akçay, Ç., Tom, M., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2013) Song type matching is an honest early threat signal in a hierarchical animal communication system. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B 280, 20122517.
- Templeton, C. N., Akçay, Ç., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2012) Soft song is a reliable signal of aggressive intent in song sparrows. Behavioral Ecology & Sociobiology, 66, 1503-1509.
- Templeton, C. N., Burt, J.M., Campbell. S. E., Lent, K., Brenowitz, E. A. & Beecher, M. D. (2012) Immediate and long-term effects of testosterone on song plasticity and learning in juvenile song sparrows. Behavioural Processes, 90, 254-260.
- Akçay, Ç, Searcy, W. A., Campbell, S. E., Reed, V. A., Templeton, C. N., Hardwick, K. & Beecher, M. D. (2011) Who initiates extra-pair mating in song sparrows? Behavioral Ecology, in press.
- Akçay, Ç, Tom, M., Holmes, D., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2011) Sing softly and carry a big stick: soft song as an aggressive signal in song sparrows. Animal Behaviour. 82, 377-382.
- Akçay, Ç, Reed, V. A., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2010) Indirect reciprocity in territorial defence by song sparrows. Animal Behaviour, 80, 1041-1047.
- Akçay, C., Wood, W. E., Searcy, W. A., Templeton, C. N., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2009) Good neighbour, bad neighbour: Song sparrows retaliate against aggressive rivals. Animal Behaviour, 78, 97-102.
- Searcy, W. A. & Beecher, M. D. (2009) Song as an aggressive signal in songbirds. Animal Behaviour,78, 1281-1292.
- Templeton, C. N., Akçay, Ç., Campbell. S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2009) Juvenile sparrows preferentially eavesdrop on adult song interactions. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Series B, 277, 447-453.
- Beecher, M. D. (2008) Function and mechanisms of song learning in song sparrows. Advances in Animal Behavior, 38, 167-225.
- Burt, J. M. & Beecher, M. D. (2008) The social interaction role of song in song sparrows: implications for signal design. Comparative Cognition & Behavior Reviews, 3, 86-98.
- Beecher, M. D., Burt, J. M., O’Loghlen, A. L., Templeton, C. N. & Campbell, S. E. (2007) Bird song learning in an eavesdropping context. Animal Behaviour. 73, 929-935.
- Burt, J. M., O’Loghlen, A. L., Templeton, C. N., Campbell, S. E. & Beecher, M. D. (2007) Assessing the importance of social factors in bird song learning: A test using computer-simulated tutors . Ethology, 113, 917-925.
- Beecher, M. D. & Brenowitz, E. A. (2005) Functional aspects of song learning in birds. Trends in Ecology & Evolution, 20, 143-149.
- Beecher, M. D. & Burt, J. M. (2004) The role of social interaction in bird song learning. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 13, 224-228.