Ecological character displacement in the face of gene flow: evidence from two species of nightingales.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Ecological character displacement is a process of phenotypic differentiation of sympatric populations caused by interspecific competition. Such differentiation could facilitate speciation by enhancing reproductive isolation between incipient species, although empirical evidence for it at early stages of divergence when gene flow still occurs between the species is relatively scarce. Here we studied patterns of morphological variation in sympatric and allopatric populations of two hybridizing species of birds, the Common Nightingale (Luscinia megarhynchos) and the Thrush Nightingale (L. luscinia).

Results

We conducted principal component (PC) analysis of morphological traits and found that nightingale species converged in overall body size (PC1) and diverged in rel

SUBMITTER: Reifova R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3121626 | biostudies-literature | 2011 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature