What Hybrid Birds Tell Us about Climate Change

Hybrids are more common than most people realize, and they form naturally where habitats overlap between closely-related species. These "hybrid zones" are shifting due to human-caused climate change, and this has unpredictable effects on the evolution of traits in hybridizing species. This video details current collaborative research focused on a hybrid zone in the eastern US between Black-Capped chickadees and Carolina chickadees. Specifically the researchers are investigating the ability of chickadees to remember where they stored food items (spatial memory), and how these abilities are impacted by hybridization and climate change. 

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Topics

  • ornithology
  • cognitive traits
  • behavioral ecology
  • genetic variation
  • mutation
  • hybridization
  • natural selection
  • adaptation
  • climate change
  • evolutionary biology
  • environmental science
  • climate science
  • chickadee
  • genomics
  • LS4.LS4-4
  • HS-LS4-5
  • bird
  • bird behaviors
  • hybrids