Curriculum Vitae
Nao OTA (Ms.)
PhD (Life science)
JSPS Overseas Research Fellowship
Max Planck Institute for Ornithology
Department of Behavioural Neurobiology
Education
2012 BSc (Biology), Hokkaido University
"Song learning and its social factors in male Java sparrows"
2014 MSc (Life Science), Hokkaido University
"Male song quality and female preference in Java sparrows"
2015 Graduate summer school "Acoustic Communication"
2017 PhD (Life Science), Hokkaido University
"Complex sexual signals in mutual courtship display of blue waxbills"
Publications
1. Ota N, & Soma M (2014)
Age‐dependent song changes in a closed‐ended vocal learner: elevation of song performance after song crystallization.
Journal of Avian Biology, 45(6): 566-573. DOI: 10.1111/jav.00383
2. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma M (2015)
Tap dancing birds: mutual multimodal courtship display of males and females in a socially monogamous songbird.
Scientific Reports, 5: 16614. DOI: 10.1038/srep16614
3. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma, M (2017)
Songbird tap dancing produces non-vocal sounds.
Bioacoustics, 26(2): 161-168. DOI: 10:1080/09524622.2016.1231080
4. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma, M (2018)
Couples showing off: Audience promotes both male and female multimodal courtship display in a songbird
Science Advances, 4(10): eaat4779. DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.aat4779
Grants
2014 Stipend for the Development of Future Researchers, Hokkaido University
2015 - 2017 JSPS Research Fellowship for Young Scientist, (DC2, #15J02516)
2017 - 2019 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowships for Research Abroad
2018 - 2019 Kawai Foundation for sound technology & music, Research grant
2019 - 2020 Early Career Grant, National Geographic Society
Awards
2012 Best Presentation Award for Undergraduate Research, Hokkaido University Museum
2012 Best Presentation Award, The Zoological Society of Japan, the Hokkaido branch
2014 Excellent Presentation Award for Graduate Research, Hokkaido University
2015 Best oral presentation by a junior researcher, XXV International Bioacoustics Conference
2015 Most outstanding presentation award, The Society for Bioacoustics (Japan)
2016 The top 100 read Scientific Reports article 2015, Scientific Reports
2017 Ohtsuka Memorial Award, Hokkaido University
2018 Best Poster Award, Biotremology 2018
Reviews
Ornithological Science, Ornis Fennica, Journal of Ethology,
Ecology and Evolution, Animal Behaviour
Presentations
Oral session
1. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma M (2015)
Tap dancing birds: mutual multimodal courtship display of males and females in a socially monogamous songbird.
XXV International Bioacoustics Conference, Murnau, Germany
2. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma M (2016)
Audience promotes courtship dancing exchanged between sexes of a songbird
The 16th congress of the International Society of Behavioral Ecology,
Exeter, England
3. Ota N, Gahr M & Soma M (2017)
Audience promotes complex acoustic signals in the courtship of a songbird
XXVI International Bioacoustics Conference, Haridwar, India
4. Ota N & Gahr M (2018)
Are the neural mechanisms shared between singing and dancing?:
the role of the song control system in a courtship dance
27th International Ornithological Conference, Vancouver, Canada
Poster session
1. Ota N & Soma M (2013)
Relationship between song traits and long-term life history in the Java sparrow
The 33rd International Ethological Conference, Newcastle, England
2. Ota N & Soma M (2014)
Female preference for syntactically complex trill in the Java sparrow song
The 26th International Ornithological Congress, Tokyo, Japan
3. Ota N & Gahr M (2018)
Do tap-dancing birds use vibrational signals?
Mutual multimodal courtship display in a socially monogamous songbird
Biotremology 2018, Riva del Garda, Italy