CULTSONG - Culture as an evolutionary force?
CULTSONG investigates in the bat Saccopteryx bilineata whether culturally learned song dialects can drive the emergence of new species.
Culture plays a central role in human evolution, but whether animal culture can also contribute to the emergence of new species remains unclear. In songbirds, differences in song are associated with higher speciation rates, but it is difficult to determine whether these cultural differences drive speciation or arise as a result of it.
We will address this question in Saccopteryx bilineata, a newly discovered ring species. This bat has striking, stable song dialects that juvenile males learn from adults. We want to find out how strongly these song differences contribute to reproductive barriers between populations and which genetic and neurogenetic mechanisms underlie song learning. This will help us better understand whether culturally learned traits can accelerate the formation of new species.
This project was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) as part of the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.