Experimentally testing mate preference in an avian system with unidirectional bill color introgression.

ABSTRACT: Mating behavior can play a key role in speciation by inhibiting or facilitating gene flow between closely related taxa. Hybrid zones facilitate a direct examination of mating behavior and the traits involved in establishing species barriers. The long-tailed finch (Poephila acuticauda) has two hybridizing subspecies that differ in bill color (red and yellow), and the yellow bill phenotype appears to have introgressed ~350 km eastward following secondary contact. To examine the role of mate choice on bill color introgression, we performed behavioral assays using natural and manipulated bill colors. We found an assortative female mating preference for males of their own subspecies when bill color was not manipulated. However, we did not find this assortative preference in trials based

SUBMITTER: McDiarmid CS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9942114 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature