Early Experience Determines Song Dialect Responsiveness of Female Sparrows

In a laboratory experiment, female white-crowned sparrows responded almost exclusively to male songs taken from their home dialect region and usually not to songs taken from an alien dialect region. Song dialect populations may represent a level of genetic population structure below that of the subs...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 1981-11, Vol.214 (4522), p.819-821
Main Authors: Baker, Myron Charles, Kimberly J. Spitler Nabors, Bradley, Dana C.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
Behavior
Bird songs
Birdsongs
Evolution
Female animals
Male animals
Mating behavior
Mice
Population genetics
Regional dialects
Sparrows
Zonotrichia leucophrys
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Summary:In a laboratory experiment, female white-crowned sparrows responded almost exclusively to male songs taken from their home dialect region and usually not to songs taken from an alien dialect region. Song dialect populations may represent a level of genetic population structure below that of the subspecies and may play an important role in songbird evolution.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.214.4522.819