Presentation Details
Dee-coding the Breeding Season: Potential Character Displacement in Chickadee Call Response

Wei Li, Omar Mendez, Amber Rice.

Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA, USA

Abstract


Character displacement can lead to divergence in responses to vocal signals, potentially impacting mate choice and/or aggression. Although song preferences have been well studied in songbirds, how individuals react to calls from conspecifics versus heterospecifics is less clear. Hybrid zones are a valuable window into interspecific interactions. Preliminary data from the black-capped (Poecile atricapillus) and Carolina chickadee (P. carolinensis) hybrid zone has shown signs of character displacement of call notes, but the connection between differences in call notes and behavioral responses have not been established. We investigated potential differences in acoustic and behavioral responses between species and selective environments (allopatry vs. sympatry) by simulating a nest intrusion scenario; including playbacks of either con- or heterospecific calls, to assess aggression in free-living chickadees breeding both inside and outside the hybrid zone. Our results will reveal the presence and type of character displacement in interspecific interaction within our hybrid zone, and advance understanding on how interspecies communication and perception contribute to speciation. 

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