APRIL 8,
2019
In the
first global test of the idea, scientists have found evidence that some
woodpeckers can evolve to look like another species of woodpecker in the same
neighborhood. The researchers say that this "plumage mimicry" isn't a
fluke—it happens among pairs of distantly related woodpeckers all over the
world. The study, published in the journal Nature Communications, was
conducted by researchers at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, SUNY Buffalo State,
the University of British Columbia, and Manchester University.
"Habitat,
climate, and genetics play a huge role in the way feather color and pattern
develop," explains lead author Eliot Miller at the Cornell Lab.
"Species in similar environments can look similar to one another. But in
some cases, there's another factor influencing the remarkable resemblance
between two woodpecker species
and that's mimicry. It's the same phenomenon found in some butterflies which
have evolved markings that make them look like a different bad-tasting or toxic
species in order to ward off predators."
Study
authors combined data on feather color, DNA sequences, eBird reports, and NASA
satellite measures of vegetation for all 230 of the world's woodpecker species.
It became clear, Miller says, that there have been repeated cases of
distantly-related woodpeckers coming to closely resemble each other when they
live in the same region of the globe.
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