Summary
When, from a partially migratory population of blackcaps, migratory-active (a) and-inactive (i) individuals were bred, the a×a pairs produced more birds of the type a than the original population and the i×i pairs, and the latter also more birds of the type i than the original population. Thus the characters ‘migratory’ and ‘resident’ in the blackcap are inherited and polymorphism is now demonstrated as a controlling system for partial migration in birds.
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References
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With support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
We thank the French embassy for arranging permission to collect experimental birds.
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Berthold, P., Querner, U. Partial migration in birds: experimental proof of polymorphism as a controlling system. Experientia 38, 805–806 (1982). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01972282
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01972282