Sociality and Migration Predict Hybridization Across Birds

Hybridization represents a natural experiment that can provide insight into processes of speciation and diversification. Though considerable research has focused on hybrid zone dynamics, macroevolutionary investigations of the factors that influence hybridization are few. Here, we compile a database of avian hybrids and perform comparative analyses to determine whether several social and life-history variables influence broad patterns of hybridization. We perform three main analyses: phylogenetic logistic regression to examine variables that are associated with the presence of hybridization, phylogenetic Poisson regression of only those species exhibiting hybridization to determine which variables are associated with the extent of hybridization, and a phylogenetic logistic regression on a subset of data to assess potential pseudoreplication. After testing several social and life-history variables, we found that social bond duration is associated with the presence and extent of hybridization. Specifically, lengthy social bonds are negatively associated with the presence and extent of hybridization. In addition to social bond length, migration is positively linked with a greater likelihood of hybridization. The broad-scale correlations between species-specific traits and hybridization across diverse avian lineages suggest commonalities in the fine-scale processes involved in mating with heterospecifics, which in turn has implications for how we think about, study and understand hybridization processes and their influence on evolutionary trajectories.