Acoustic discrimination of sympatric morphs in Darwin's finches: a behavioural mechanism for assortative mating?

• Published in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences Vol. 365; no. 1543; pp. 1031 - 1039
• Main Author: Podos, Jeffrey
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society 12.04.2010
• Subjects: Aerial locomotion; Animals; Assortative Mating; Beak; Beak - anatomy & histology; Beak - physiology; Biological Evolution; Bird songs; Darwin's Finches; Ecological genetics; Ecological Speciation; Ecuador; Evolution; Female; Finches; Finches - anatomy & histology; Finches - physiology; Geographical Variation; Male; Male animals; Mating behavior; Sexual Behavior, Animal - physiology; Song Discrimination; Song Playback; Speciation; Tape Recording; Vocalization, Animal - physiology; Ecuador

Populations with multiple morphological or behavioural types provide unique opportunities for studying the causes and consequences of evolutionary diversification. A population of the medium ground finch (Geospiza fortis) at El Garrapatero on Santa Cruz Island, Galápagos, features two beak size morp...