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Bilateral Song Convergence in a Passerine Hybrid Zone: Genetics Contribute in One Species Only

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Abstract

Hybridization can drive the convergence of territorial and sexual signals. However, non-genetic processes such as competition, environment matching, or cultural transmission, also generate this pattern. We investigated the effect of hybridization on song convergence between two interspecifically territorial warblers in a moving hybrid zone. We confirmed song convergence in each species. Using an AFLP-based genetic index, we detected an effect of genetics on song convergence in Hippolais polyglotta, the expanding species. Evidence was weaker for H. icterina, the receding species. In moving zones, introgression is expected to be larger in the expanding species than in the receding. Thus, the asymmetric contribution of the genetic index to convergence was consistent with expectations for genetically determined traits in moving hybrid zones, and the observed introgression pattern of AFLP markers. However, the geographical location of individuals had an effect on song variation too when genetics was accounted for, suggesting that convergence also has non-genetic explanations. We examine the possible role of alternative processes to that of hybridization and discuss their conflicting effects on reinforcement and hybrid zone dynamics.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful for their assistance at various stages of this project F. Grossiord, K.-H. Heyne, A. Lischke, L. Hayo, T. Stalling, W. Fiedler, A. Chartier, S. Deroo, H. Fourny, J.-P. Jacob, C. Vansteenwegen, F. Gijs, P. Loly, E. Clotuche, P. Raevel, Javier Pérez-Tris. We also thank the Ministère de l’environnement, the C.R.B.P.O. and the Institut Royal des Sciences Naturelles de Belgique for authorizations and permits. This research has been supported by a Marie Curie fellowship of the European Community programme Human Potential under contract number HPMF-CT-2000-01076 granted to JS.

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  1. GECCO-LEESA, Université d’Angers, 2 boulevard Lavoisier, 49045, Angers, France

    Jean Secondi & Paul Bordas

  2. Department of Biology, Section of Animal Ecology, Lund University, Sölvegatan 37, 223 62, Lund, Sweden

    Jean Secondi, Christy A. Hipsley & Staffan Bensch

  3. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, 1156 High St., Santa Cruz, CA, 93106, USA

    Christy A. Hipsley

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  1. Jean Secondi
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Correspondence to Jean Secondi.

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Secondi, J., Bordas, P., Hipsley, C.A. et al. Bilateral Song Convergence in a Passerine Hybrid Zone: Genetics Contribute in One Species Only. Evol Biol 38, 441–452 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-011-9133-8

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