Postdoc Jen Walsh talked on the first morning of the AOS conference about her ongoing work on the hybridization genomics of Nelson’s and Saltmarsh Sparrows. Among Jen’s findings is strong evidence for the transfer of adaptive genes from Saltmarsh Sparrows (which have a long evolutionary history of adaptation to the special environment of salt marshes) to Nelson’s Sparrows (which more recently colonized salt marshes) though hybridization where the two species meet along the coast of New England.
