Changing climate mediates sapsucker (Aves: Sphyrapicus) hybrid zone movement.

ABSTRACT: Hybrid zones, where two divergent taxa meet and interbreed, offer unique opportunities to investigate how climate contributes to reproductive isolation between closely related taxa and how these taxa may respond to climatic changes. Red-naped (Sphyrapicus nuchalis) and Red-breasted (Sphyrapicus ruber) sapsuckers (Aves: Picidae) hybridize along a narrow contact zone that stretches from northern California to British Columbia. The hybrid zone between these species has been studied extensively for more than 100 years and represents an excellent system for investigations of the evolution of reproductive isolation. Shifts in the proportions of phenotypes at hybrid localities since 1910 that were inferred using specimens from museum collections were confirmed using species distribu

SUBMITTER: Billerman SM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5108250 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature