Descripción del proyecto
Los dialectos de los cantos impulsan la evolución
La cultura da forma a la evolución humana. Sin embargo, ¿a los murciélagos también les puede afectar (especialmente a través de los dialectos de los cantos transmitidos culturalmente)? El aumento de la tasa de especiación entre las aves cantoras sugiere que podría haber una fuerte correlación entre las divergencias de los cantos inducidas por la cultura y la especiación. CULTSONG se centrará en el murciélago cantor «Saccopteryx bilineata», la primera especie anillo conocida de mamífero. Las especies anillo son originarias de poblaciones que se propagan por barreras inhabitables, de forma que se van diferenciando paulatinamente hasta que quedan aisladas desde un punto de vista reproductivo por contacto secundario. CULTSONG investigará si los dialectos de los cantos trasmitidos culturalmente aceleran la especiación en los murciélagos. En última instancia, este proyecto ayudará a dilucidar el papel de la selección cultural como fuerza evolutiva que complementa a la selección natural y sexual.
Objetivo
Culture is highly relevant for human evolution but whether animal culture can be an evolutionary force that promotes speciation is an open and highly contested issue. While culturally induced song divergence can be correlated with increased speciation rates in songbirds, it is hard to resolve whether cultural differences are promoting speciation or vice versa. Studying ring species is a perfect solution for this problem since they illustrate divergence in space instead of time, thus allowing us to determine whether cultural differences are causes or consequences of speciation. A ring species originates from a population that expands around an uninhabitable barrier and gradually diverges until the terminal forms are reproductively isolated upon secondary contact. We will study whether culturally induced song divergence accelerates speciation in the bat Saccopteryx bilineata, the first known mammalian ring species. Cultural differences between S. bilineata populations are manifested in distinct and temporally stable song dialects which juvenile males learn from adults. First, we will study song divergence around the ring and the relative contribution of song dialects to reproductive isolation of the co-occurring terminal forms of the ring. Second, we will study potential genetic predispositions for learning specific song dialects and investigate neurogenetic mechanisms involved in mammalian song learning. Third, we will reconstruct the history, evolutionary patterns and processes of speciation in a ring using a genomic approach in S. bilineata and its sympatric sister species. This comparative approach will allow us to unravel factors involved in the rapid divergence of S. bilineata on a small spatial scale. In synthesis, we will be able to determine whether sexually selected, culturally transmitted traits can accelerate speciation and elucidate the role of culture as an evolutionary force.
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Régimen de financiación
ERC-STG - Starting GrantInstitución de acogida
10115 Berlin
Alemania