Golden-Winged and Blue-Winged Warblers
What we study:
Our collaborative work on warblers is primarily led by Dr. David Toews and his group at Pennsylvania State University as a part of their research on the diversification in the New World wood warblers. This group of birds – beloved by scientists and birders alike – has been a generous source of insights into hard-to-answer questions and cutting-edge studies for centuries. Hybridization is commonly observed between a number of warbler species and, while this does not make it easier to identify different species in the field, it opens up many opportunities to study the nature of population boundaries and search for genes that underly them.
Golden-winged and blue-winged warblers are closely related birds and they hybridize extensively where their breeding ranges overlap. By sequencing whole genomes from multiple individuals our research has shown that they have a long evolutionary history of hybridization. This long history of hybridization is like a crossing experiment performed in the lab (think Mendel’s peas), but happening in nature! We have taken advantage of this natural admixture experiment to identify genes that underlie plumage differences as well as differences in migration within the Vermivora genus and we continue to collaborate on this work with multiple labs.
In the Press
​ Discovery: Rare three-species hybrid warbler​
Plumage genes and little else distinguish the genomes of hybridizing warblers.
Warbler genomes look to be 99.97 percent alike​
Blue-winged, golden-winged warblers not all that different​
Golden-Winged And Blue-Winged Warblers Are 99.97 Percent Alike Genetically​
Warbler genomes look to be 99.97 percent alike​
A Lump And A Split And The List Is Shredded?
Declining warblers making the best of bad situation: The discovery of a rare three-species warbler hybrid suggests bird species in sharp decline are struggling to find suitable mates
Warbler genomes look to be 99.97 percent alike​
Golden-winged Warbler and Blue-winged Warbler are remarkably similar
Blue-winged, golden-winged warblers not all that different​
Publications
2021
Toews DPL, Bai MD, Kramer GR, Lovette IJ, Streby H, Taylor SA. Accepted. Extensive historical and contemporary hybridization suggests pre-mating isolation in Vermivora warblers is not strong: a reply to Confer et al. Ecology and Evolution.
2020
Baiz MD, Kramer GR, Streby HM, Taylor SA, Lovette IJ, Toews DPL. 2020. Genomic and plumage variation in Vermivora hybrids. The Auk: Ornithological Advances. 137:
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2019
Toews DPL, Taylor SA, Streby H, Kramer G, Lovette IJ. 2019. Selection on VPS13A linked to migration in a songbird. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 116: 18272-18274
Toews DPL, Streby H, Burket L, Taylor SA. 2018. A wood-warbler produced through both interspecific and intergeneric hybridization. Biology Letters 14: 20180557.
2016
+Toews DPL, +Taylor SA, Vallender R, Brelsford A, Butcher BG, Messer PW, Lovette IJ. 2016. Plumage genes and little else distinguish the genomes of hybridizing warblers. Current Biology 26: 2313-2318​. +Authors contributed equally. Recommended by