Differences in dietary composition and preference maintained despite gene flow across a woodrat hybrid zone

We investigated diet composition across a woodrat hybrid zone. Diet is critical to individual fitness, and variation in plant communities across sharp ecotones may produce spatial variation in diet-based selection. We find that diet differences between two closely related and hybridizing woodrat species (genus Neotoma) and that these differences are maintained in both wet and dry periods. Our findings suggest that diet may be among a suite of environmental variables that maintain species boundaries in this hybrid zone.