Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Site Tools

  • AAAS
  • Subscribe
  • Feedback

Site Search

Search Advanced

Science 27 August 1999:
Vol. 285. no. 5432, pp. 1399 - 1402
DOI: 10.1126/science.285.5432.1399
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

Selection-Based Biodiversity at a Small Spatial Scale in a Low-Dispersing Insular Bird

Jacques Blondel, * Paula C. Dias, Philippe Perret, Marie Maistre, Marcel M. Lambrechts

The blue tit is a highly mobile small passerine found in deciduous and evergreen oaks. In mainland populations, gene flow results in local maladaptive timing of breeding in evergreen oak forests, the rarer habitat. However, on the island of Corsica, two populations only 25 kilometers apart are highly specialized and differ between the two habitat types in breeding and morphological traits. In contrast to theoretical predictions about the homogenizing effects of gene flow, this highlights evolutionary consequences of habitat diversification and isolation at a small spatial scale in insular organisms, which should be taken into account in conservation policies.

Centre d'Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 1919 Route de Mende, 34293 Montpellier cedex 5, France.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: blondel{at}cefe.cnrs-mop.fr

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Individual variation in endocrine systems: moving beyond the 'tyranny of the Golden Mean'.
T. D Williams (2008)
Phil Trans R Soc B 363, 1687-1698
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Local differentiation in the presence of gene flow in the citril finch Serinus citrinella.
J. C. Senar, A. Borras, J. Cabrera, T. Cabrera, and M. Bjorklund (2006)
Biol Lett 2, 85-87
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Habitat selection and ecological speciation in Galapagos warbler finches (Certhidea olivacea and Certhidea fusca).
B. Tonnis, P. R Grant, B. R. Grant, and K. Petren (2005)
Proc R Soc B 272, 819-826
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Variation in Food Supply, Time of Breeding, and Energy Expenditure in Birds.
S. Verhulst, J. M. Tinbergen, D. W. Thomas, J. Blondel, P. Perret, M. M. Lambrechts, and J. R. Speakman (2001)
Science 294, 471a-471
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Energetic and Fitness Costs of Mismatching Resource Supply and Demand in Seasonally Breeding Birds.
D. W. Thomas, J. Blondel, P. Perret, M. M. Lambrechts, and J. R. Speakman (2001)
Science 291, 2598-2600
   Abstract »    Full Text »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)