Symmetrical discrimination despite weak song differentiation in 2 suboscine bird sister species

Author(s)

Macedo, Gabriel ^[1] ; Silva, Marco ^[2] ; do Amaral, Fabio Raposo ^[1] ; Maldonado-Coelho, Marcos ^[1]

Affiliation

^[1] Univ Fed Sao Paulo, Inst Ciencias Ambientais Quim & Farmaceut, Rua Prof Artur Riedel 275, Sao Paulo - Brazil

^[2] BirdLife Int, SAVE Brasil, Rua Fernao Dias 219, Sao Paulo - Brazil

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: BEHAVIORAL ECOLOGY; v. 30, n. 5, p. 1205-1215, SEP-OCT 2019.
• Web of Science Citations: 1

Abstract

Song mediates territorial competition and mate choice in birds and population divergence in this signal can have important evolutionary consequences. For example, divergent songs can act in specific recognition and limit gene flow and, hence, have a fundamental role on the origin and/or integrity of evolutionary lineages. Especially interesting systems to test the role of song in specific recognition are species pairs that present small structural differences in this signal. Here, we perform song play-back experiments on males of a long-diverged sister pair of Neotropical Suboscine species, the squamate antbird (Myrmoderus squamosus) and the white-bibbed antbird (Myrmoderus loricatus), which occur in parapatry in the Atlantic Forest and that overlap extensively in song variation. Previous evidence indicates that genetic introgression between these species is either absent or negligible, suggesting that vocal discrimination or other mechanisms function as effective barriers to gene flow. Our results show that responses to heterospecific songs were symmetrical and intermediary compared with responses to conspecific songs in both species. A stronger response to conspecific territorial songs suggests that conspecific individuals pose greater competitive threat than heterospecifics. An important implication of our study is that even small song differences can play an important role in specific recognition. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 11/50143-7 - Comparative multilocus phylogeography of three species of Poospiza (Aves, Passeriformes): exploring the history of the montane Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Fábio Sarubbi Raposo do Amaral
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Young Investigators Grants
• FAPESP's process: 16/11439-1 - A comparison of evolutionary rates between songs and calls in South-American Fire-eyes (Aves: Pyriglena): a hypotheses test in a phylogenetic framework
• Grantee: Marcos Maldonado Coelho
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Young Researchers
• FAPESP's process: 13/50297-0 - Dimensions US-BIOTA São Paulo: a multidisciplinary framework for biodiversity prediction in the Brazilian Atlantic forest hotspot
• Grantee: Cristina Yumi Miyaki
• Support Opportunities: BIOTA-FAPESP Program - Thematic Grants
• FAPESP's process: 15/18287-0 - A comparison of evolutionary rates between songs and calls in South-American Fire-eyes (Aves: Pyriglena): a hypotheses test in a phylogenetic framework
• Grantee: Marcos Maldonado Coelho
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Young Investigators Grants
• FAPESP's process: 11/23155-4 - Comparative multilocus phylogeography of three species of Poospiza (Aves, Passeriformes): exploring the history of the montane Atlantic Forest
• Grantee: Fábio Sarubbi Raposo do Amaral
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - BIOTA - Young Researchers