The causes and evolutionary consequences of mixed singing in two hybridizing songbird species (Luscinia spp.).

ABSTRACT: Bird song plays an important role in the establishment and maintenance of prezygotic reproductive barriers. When two closely related species come into secondary contact, song convergence caused by acquisition of heterospecific songs into the birds' repertoires is often observed. The proximate mechanisms responsible for such mixed singing, and its effect on the speciation process, are poorly understood. We used a combination of genetic and bioacoustic analyses to test whether mixed singing observed in the secondary contact zone of two passerine birds, the Thrush Nightingale (Luscinia luscinia) and the Common Nightingale (L. megarhynchos), is caused by introgressive hybridization. We analysed song recordings of both species from allopatric and sympatric populations together with genotype dat

SUBMITTER: Vokurkova J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3618175 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature