Study Catches 2 Bird Populations as They Split into Different Species

Study catches 2 bird populations as they split into separate species (7/17/2009)

Gist of the article: A genetic mutation has created two different populations of the Monarch Flycatcher in the Solomon Islands. This mutation has caused one population to be totally black while the other has a chestnut underbelly. Scientists were wondering if this was the beginning of speciation, and so they developed a method of seeing if the two populations were continuing to interbreed, or if they had begun the process of speciation.

Verdict: The males of each population no longer defend their mating territories against the other population. Given this, it's safe to say the two populations are no longer breeding. Given enough time, mutations will stack and produce increasing amounts of divergence between the two populations until they are genetically incompatible- hence speciation.

Well, I'm not so sure that you can match "male fails to defend territory" with "does not mate". As they say, it's impossible to pry into the mating habits of the entire species. But we're actually to the point technologically where, if you can find 50 nests with eggs, pointing stand alone cameras on them for a month is getting to be affordable.

It's a nice example of a single gene making a stark contrast which, from what we can tell, inhibits mating. But animal speciation has been observed in lab. It's a done deal. It's been "proven".