WILDFIRES CAN DIVERSIFY BIRD SONG

Low-intensity wildfires cause birds to flee to new areas, increasing the diversity of bird song within a forest, according to researchers in California.

The team recorded the mating songs of over 1,500 hermit warblers – small grey and yellow birds that breed on the western coast of the US. The birds occupy many different types of forest and have developed 35 dialects. “The birds were generally isolated from each other,” said Dr Brett Furnas, lead author of the paper. “It’s a bit like how Darwin’s finches on the Galápagos became different, but of course I am talking about song here, a cultural trait which might happen quicker than with genetics.”

The researchers found that after an area is hit by a low-intensity wildfire, it is recolonised by new hermit warblers. These bring their dialect with them, increasing the song diversity.