Song and genetic divergence within a subspecies of white-crowned sparrow (Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli)

​Animal culture evolves alongside genomes, and the two modes of inheritance—culture and genes—interact in myriad ways. For example, stable geographic variation in culture can act as a reproductive barrier, thereby producing genetic divergence between “cultural populations.” White-crowned sparrows (Zonotrichia leucophrys) are a well-established model species for bird song learning and cultural evolution, as they have distinct, geographically discrete, and culturally transmitted song types (i.e., song dialects). In this study, we tested the hypothesis that divergence between culturally transmitted songs drives genetic divergence within Nuttall’s white-crowned sparrows (Z. l. nuttalli). In accordance with sexual selection theory, we hypothesized that cultural divergence between mating signals both preceded and generated genetic divergence.We characterized the population structure and song variation in the subspecies and found two genetically differentiated populations whose boundary coinci..., , , # Song and genetic divergence within a subspecies of white-crowned sparrow (*Zonotrichia leucophrys nuttalli*)

[Access this dataset on Dryad](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.83bk3j9z1)

These are white-crowned sparrow (*Zonotrichia leucophrys*) data from Luo et al. 2024. The data are in three parts: genetic data, song recordings and trait data, and playback experiment data. The genetic data include two peripatric white-crowned sparrow subspecies (*Z. l. nuttalli* and *Z. l. pugetensis*), and the song and playback experiment data are just from *Z. l. nuttalli*.

**Corresponding author information:**
Amy Luo
[[e-mail]](mailto:[e-mail])
Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
University of Tennessee, Knoxville

This dataset includes three components: genetic data, song data, and playback experiment results. For the genetic and song data, genetic or acoustic dissimilarity was calculated between all samples. These dissimilarities were used to map geographic boundaries...