Mixing Genes: Bird immigrants make unexpected differences

A pair of decades-long studies of birds moving into other birds’ neighborhoods show that immigration can have a quirkier effect than predicted by the usual textbook view.

IMMIGRANTS MATTER. Size trends among great tit fledglings from Wytham Woods in England depend mainly on which outsiders have joined the family. T. Wilkin

Evolutionary biologists have often talked about two forces working against each other in shaping the mix of genes in a local population.