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The effect of experience on the selective behaviour of song thrushes feeding on artificial populations ofCepaea (held)

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Abstract

Song thrushes fed on populations of bread-stuffedCepaea shells. The results indicate that experience influences the selective behaviour of thrushes for both shell colour and shell size. Such behaviour could lead to frequency dependent selection in natural populations. Within the ranges of size and colour offered, thrushes learned from a colour rather than a size experience when both were varied simultaneously.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Sussex, Brighton, U.K.

    P. H. Harvey, N. Birley & T. H. Blackstock

Authors
  1. P. H. Harvey
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  2. N. Birley
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  3. T. H. Blackstock
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Harvey, P.H., Birley, N. & Blackstock, T.H. The effect of experience on the selective behaviour of song thrushes feeding on artificial populations ofCepaea (held). Genetica 45, 211–216 (1975). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01517197

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01517197

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