TY - JOUR
T1 - Song dialects do not restrict gene flow in an urban population of the orange-tufted sunbird, Nectarinia osea
AU - Leader, Noam
AU - Geffen, Eli
AU - Mokady, Ofer
AU - Yom-Tov, Yoram
N1 - Funding Information:
Acknowledgments We thank A. Feldman, R. Zilberman and M. Sasson their assistance in the field and in the laboratory. We are grateful to R. Bowie for the use of his microsatellite primers. We thank J. Wright and S. Markman for helpful comments on early versions of the manuscript. This research was supported by The Israel Science Foundation (grant no. 900/04) to YYT and by the Israel Cohen Chair for Environmental Zoology to YYT. The study complies with Israeli law and was conducted under licenses issued by the Israel Nature & Parks Authority.
PY - 2008/4
Y1 - 2008/4
N2 - Geographic variation in vocalizations is widespread in passerine birds, but its origins and maintenance remain unclear. In this study, we test the hypothesis that song dialect, a culturally transmitted trait, is related to the population genetic structure of the orange-tufted sunbird, Nectarinia osea. To address this, we compared mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variation together with allele frequencies at five microsatellite loci from an urban population of sunbirds exhibiting two distinct song dialects on a microgeographic scale. Our findings reveal no association between dialect membership and genetic composition. All genetic measures, from both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, indicate high levels of gene flow between both dialect populations. The low FST values obtained from mtDNA and microsatellite analysis imply that the variation among dialects does not account for more than 2%, at best, of the overall genetic variation found in the entire population. These measures fall well within the range of similar measures obtained in other studies of species exhibiting vocal dialects, most of which fail to detect any dialect-based genetic differentiation. The persistence of dialects in the orange-tufted sunbird may thus best be explained by dispersal of individuals across dialect boundaries and possibly from surrounding areas, followed by postdispersal vocal matching. Because genetic structuring appears weaker than cultural structure in this species, we discuss the behavioral mechanisms underlying dialect maintenance in the presence of apparent gene flow.
AB - Geographic variation in vocalizations is widespread in passerine birds, but its origins and maintenance remain unclear. In this study, we test the hypothesis that song dialect, a culturally transmitted trait, is related to the population genetic structure of the orange-tufted sunbird, Nectarinia osea. To address this, we compared mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) sequence variation together with allele frequencies at five microsatellite loci from an urban population of sunbirds exhibiting two distinct song dialects on a microgeographic scale. Our findings reveal no association between dialect membership and genetic composition. All genetic measures, from both mitochondrial and nuclear DNA, indicate high levels of gene flow between both dialect populations. The low FST values obtained from mtDNA and microsatellite analysis imply that the variation among dialects does not account for more than 2%, at best, of the overall genetic variation found in the entire population. These measures fall well within the range of similar measures obtained in other studies of species exhibiting vocal dialects, most of which fail to detect any dialect-based genetic differentiation. The persistence of dialects in the orange-tufted sunbird may thus best be explained by dispersal of individuals across dialect boundaries and possibly from surrounding areas, followed by postdispersal vocal matching. Because genetic structuring appears weaker than cultural structure in this species, we discuss the behavioral mechanisms underlying dialect maintenance in the presence of apparent gene flow.
KW - Birdsong
KW - Cultural evolution
KW - Gene flow
KW - Nectarinia osea
KW - Population genetic structure
KW - Vocal dialects
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=43749085066&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s00265-008-0558-8
DO - 10.1007/s00265-008-0558-8
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AN - SCOPUS:43749085066
SN - 0340-5443
VL - 62
SP - 1299
EP - 1305
JO - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
JF - Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology
IS - 8
ER -