Speciation has been difficult to study in wild populations, because most species were formed long ago and the processes that originally led to their formation are often obscured. The Greenish warbler provides a rare example of 'speciation in action', providing the chance to observe the mechanisms underlying production of geographic variation within a species and divergence between geographically separated populations. In the last 10,000 years, the Greenish warbler has expanded its range northwards through Central Asia and into Siberia. The populations at the extremes of its range are recognized as two distinct species. However, the split is not complete, since these two species are connected by a chain of populations that continue to exchange genetic material. This project will investigate the process leading to divergence and speciation in the Greenish warbler, though examination of habitat, associated traits, including song and plumage color, and genetic relatedness, in three populations across the warbler's range. These data will be used to test alternative hypotheses of how selective pressures vary geographically and cause divergence between populations.
This project contributes to development of international collaborations and provides valuable biodiversity data from and conservation benefits to remote regions of Asia. In addition to providing training to the graduate student CoPI, the project provides involvement in scientific research to students within Russia and Kyrgyzstan and outreach to biologists in those countries through workshops developed by the CoPI. Additionally, biodiversity and genetic data will be provided to public data bases.
