Chickadees sing different songs in sympatry versus allopatry
(2025) In Journal of evolutionary biology 38(1). p.1-9- Abstract
Character displacement theory predicts that closely-related co-occurring species should diverge in relevant traits to reduce costly interspecific interactions such as competition or hybridization. While many studies document character shifts in sympatry, few provide corresponding evidence that these shifts are driven by the costs of co-occurrence. Black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) are closely-related, ecologically similar, and broadly distributed songbirds with both allopatric and sympatric populations. In sympatry, both species appear to suffer costs of their co-occurrence: (a) both species are in worse body condition compared to allopatry and (b) hybridization sometimes yields sterile... (More)
Character displacement theory predicts that closely-related co-occurring species should diverge in relevant traits to reduce costly interspecific interactions such as competition or hybridization. While many studies document character shifts in sympatry, few provide corresponding evidence that these shifts are driven by the costs of co-occurrence. Black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) are closely-related, ecologically similar, and broadly distributed songbirds with both allopatric and sympatric populations. In sympatry, both species appear to suffer costs of their co-occurrence: (a) both species are in worse body condition compared to allopatry and (b) hybridization sometimes yields sterile offspring. Here, we explored character displacement in the songs of black-capped and mountain chickadees by characterizing variation in male songs from sympatric and allopatric populations. We found that mountain chickadees sing differently in sympatry versus allopatry. Specifically, they produced more notes per song, were more likely to include an extra introductory note, and produced a smaller glissando in their first notes compared to all other populations. Combined with previous research on social dominance and maladaptive hybridization between black-capped and mountain chickadees, we posit that differences in sympatric mountain chickadee song are population-wide shifts to reduce aggression from dominant black-capped chickadees and/or prevent maladaptive hybridization.
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- author
- Taylor, Olivia N. ; Grabenstein, Kathryn C. ; Theodosopoulos, Angela N. LU ; Leeson, Harriet ; Taylor, Scott A. and Branch, Carrie L.
- organization
- publishing date
- 2025
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- agonistic character displacement, chickadee, competition, hybridization, reproductive character displacement, song divergence
- in
- Journal of evolutionary biology
- volume
- 38
- issue
- 1
- pages
- 9 pages
- publisher
- John Wiley & Sons Inc.
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85214551882
- pmid:39382524
- ISSN
- 1010-061X
- DOI
- 10.1093/jeb/voae114
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 44bfe8e8-64cc-44b8-8a1a-1e97106af04f
- date added to LUP
- 2025-03-10 11:21:46
- date last changed
- 2025-07-14 22:07:20
@article{44bfe8e8-64cc-44b8-8a1a-1e97106af04f,
abstract = {{<p>Character displacement theory predicts that closely-related co-occurring species should diverge in relevant traits to reduce costly interspecific interactions such as competition or hybridization. While many studies document character shifts in sympatry, few provide corresponding evidence that these shifts are driven by the costs of co-occurrence. Black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and mountain chickadees (Poecile gambeli) are closely-related, ecologically similar, and broadly distributed songbirds with both allopatric and sympatric populations. In sympatry, both species appear to suffer costs of their co-occurrence: (a) both species are in worse body condition compared to allopatry and (b) hybridization sometimes yields sterile offspring. Here, we explored character displacement in the songs of black-capped and mountain chickadees by characterizing variation in male songs from sympatric and allopatric populations. We found that mountain chickadees sing differently in sympatry versus allopatry. Specifically, they produced more notes per song, were more likely to include an extra introductory note, and produced a smaller glissando in their first notes compared to all other populations. Combined with previous research on social dominance and maladaptive hybridization between black-capped and mountain chickadees, we posit that differences in sympatric mountain chickadee song are population-wide shifts to reduce aggression from dominant black-capped chickadees and/or prevent maladaptive hybridization.</p>}},
author = {{Taylor, Olivia N. and Grabenstein, Kathryn C. and Theodosopoulos, Angela N. and Leeson, Harriet and Taylor, Scott A. and Branch, Carrie L.}},
issn = {{1010-061X}},
keywords = {{agonistic character displacement; chickadee; competition; hybridization; reproductive character displacement; song divergence}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{1}},
pages = {{1--9}},
publisher = {{John Wiley & Sons Inc.}},
series = {{Journal of evolutionary biology}},
title = {{Chickadees sing different songs in sympatry versus allopatry}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/jeb/voae114}},
doi = {{10.1093/jeb/voae114}},
volume = {{38}},
year = {{2025}},
}