Population differences in socially learned mating signals like oscine birdsong are particularly vulnerable to breakdown through dispersal.1Olofsson H. Servedio M.R. Sympatry affects the evolution of genetic versus cultural determination of song.Behav. Ecol. 2008; 19: 596-604https://doi.org/10.1093/beheco/arn002Crossref Scopus (21) Google Scholar Despite this challenge, geographic variation in learned signals is ubiquitous.2Podos J. Warren P.S. The evolution of geographic variation in birdsong.Adv. Study Behav. 2007; 37: 403-458https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-3454(07)37009-5Crossref Scopus (268) Google Scholar A proposed explanation for this pattern is that birds express predispositions to selectively learn and produce population-typical songs.3Lachlan R.F. Feldman M.W. Evolution of cultural communication systems: The coevolution of cultural signals and genes encoding learning preferences.J. Evol. Biol. 2003; 16: 1084-1095https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1420-9101.2003.00624.xCrossref PubMed Scopus (47) Google Scholar,4Lachlan R.F. Servedio M.R. Song learning accelerates allopatric speciation.Evolution. 2004; 58: 2049-2063https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0014-3820.2004.tb00489.xCrossref PubMed Scopus (143) Google Scholar,5Olofsson H. Frame A.M. Servedio M.R. Can reinforcement occur with a learned trait?.Evolution. 2011; 65: 1992-2003https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1558-5646.2011.01286.xCrossref PubMed Scopus (27) Google Scholar While experimental studies on lab-reared birds have shown the existence of within-species learning predispositions,6Mundinger P.C. Behaviour-genetic analysis of canary song: Inter-strain differences in sensory learning, and epigenetic rules.Anim. Behav. 1995; 50: 1491-1511https://doi.org/10.1016/0003-3472(95)80006-9Crossref Scopus (59) Google Scholar,7Nelson D.A. A preference for own-subspecies' song guides vocal learning in a song bird.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2000; 97: 13348-13353https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.240457797Crossref PubMed Scopus (75) Google Scholar,8Takahasi M. Okanoya K. Song learning in wild and domesticated strains of white-rumped munia, Lonchura striata, compared by cross-fostering procedures: domestication increases song variability by decreasing strain-specific bias.Ethology. 2010; 116: 396-405https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2010.01761.xCrossref Scopus (38) Google Scholar,9ter Haar S.M. Kaemper W. Stam K. Levelt C.C. ten Cate C. The interplay of within-species perceptual predispositions and experience during song ontogeny in zebra finches (Taeniopygia guttata).Proc. Biol. Sci. 2014; 28120141860https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2014.1860Crossref Scopus (10) Google Scholar,10Mets D.G. Brainard M.S. Genetic variation interacts with experience to determine interindividual differences in learned song.Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA. 2018; 115: 421-426https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.1713031115Crossref PubMed Scopus (0) Google Scholar it remains unclear whether and how learning predispositions influence song acquisition in the wild. Here, we investigated innate song learning predispositions in wild pied flycatchers (Ficedula hypoleuca) by measuring the songs of individuals translocated as eggs from a Dutch population to a breeding population in Sweden. We compared the songs of the adult males hatched from these translocated eggs with those from the ancestral and receiving populations. Songs of translocated males closely resemble the local Swedish songs to which they were exposed during development, supporting the importance of social learning. However, translocated males selectively learned those local Swedish song elements that sound the most "Dutch-like." As a result, their songs are significantly shifted toward those of the ancestral Dutch population. This suggests that innate learning predispositions track ongoing song evolution in wild populations of pied flycatchers. We propose that as songs continue to diverge over time, this coevolutionary relationship between song and learning predispositions may contribute to the emergence of incipient pre-mating barriers.
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