Cover Picture and Issue Information. Issue 4 (2nd April 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Is Part Of: Methods in ecology and evolution. Volume 11:Issue 4(2020)
• Page Start: 473
• Page End: 475
• Publication Date: 2020-04-02
• Subjects: Ecology -- Periodicals; Evolution -- Periodicals; 577
• DOI: 10.1111/2041-210X.13221
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2041-210X

Abstract

Abstract : This month's cover image is of an adult male chipping sparrow with his characteristic rufous cap. The photograph was taken by Jerry Webb, an avid birder, member of the Nashville chapter of the Tennessee Ornithological Society, and citizen scientist. He captured this photo in Adams County, Wisconsin on July 19, 2009 using a Canon 40D with an L Series 70‐200 lens and a 2X extender. Citizen scientists are not only actively capturing and contributing photographs of birds, but also recordings of their songs. The curation of these recordings of various species, by such databases as Macaulay Library and Xeno‐canto, has created a valuable resource of geographically welldistributed datasets for researchers. In the article Chipper: Open‐source software for semi‐automated segmentation and analysis of birdsong and other natural sounds", Searfoss et al. have developed a tool to streamline the use of citizen‐science data collected with various recording devices and of various species. The first study published using this software – 'Geographically well‐distributed citizen science data reveals range‐wide variation in the chipping sparrow's simple song' (Searfoss et al., Animal Behaviour 2020) – was conducted on citizen science recordings of the chipping sparrow. Together, the chipping sparrow name and the software's primary function of 'chipping' songs into parts (syllables) provided the namesake for Chipper. Photo credit: ©Jerry Webb 2009