Abstract
Natural hybrid zones, geographic regions where closely related taxa meet and occasionally interbreed, provide important insights into the evolutionary processes characterizing speciation in the wild. Focusing on young pairs of sister-species allows us to not only understand the types of barriers that prevent newly diverged populations from fusing, but also the factors allowing the two populations to co-exist without one species being out-competed by the other. The answers to such questions form the basis of our understanding of speciation, and are vital to the successful management of biodiversity. The natural scarcity of hybrid zones that are agreeable to study has been the main obstruction to advance our knowledge of speciation processes. Given recent advances in theoretical work, and molecular tools and techniques, the availability of a perfect avian Australian model system promises to offer a diversity of novel, exciting insights into how biodiversity evolves and is maintained. Through highly controlled manipulations in the laboratory, I will try to answer some of the key questions that faces evolutionary biologist today: the relative importance of the different reproductive barriers preventing heterospecific breedings (i.e. reproductive strategies), and its impact on the maintenance of biodiversity. And, what facilitates closely related species with ecologically similar needs to co-exist?
Sweden