Sparrows uniquely adapted to Bay Area marshes are losing their uniqueness

Phred Benham
Phred Benham, a postdoc in the Bowie Lab.

A new genomic analysis of Savannah sparrows (Passerculus sandwichensis) from around the state — many of them collected as far back as 1889, their specimens stored in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology at the University of California, Berkeley — shows that over the past 128 years, the Bay Area's sparrow's adaptation to salt water is being diminished by interbreeding with inland sparrows adapted to fresh water. Read Berkeley News Article...