High standards of female songbirds could be driving their mates to evolve
Hearing longer love songs from songbirds in your backyard? Chalk it up to sexual preference – and high standards. New research on songbirds from graduate students Cristina Robinson and Kate Snyder in the lab of , Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences and Evolution@¹ú²úÔ´´ member, suggests that females, who are choosing males with the most elaborate songs as their potential partners, are influencing male songbirds to evolve toward learning (and practicing) songs throughout their lives – an evolutionary occurrence previously believed to be mainly a result of changes in a bird’s environment, breeding season, or migration. The study appeared in the journal .