Which factor exerts a faster selective pressure on the Yellowhammer than genetic drift in song dialects?
Anthropogenic factors related to habitat loss
When comparing the rates of change impacting the Yellowhammer, human-driven environmental changes operate far more rapidly than natural biological processes. The text explicitly indicates that the speed of anthropogenic factors—specifically those related to modern farming techniques and habitat fragmentation—is exerting a much stronger selective pressure than the slower pace observed in cultural evolution like song dialect drift or traditional genetic evolution. For example, the rapid ecological response seen in the UK population decline illustrates that changes in land management cause immediate demographic consequences, far outpacing the more gradual mechanisms governing genetic shifts or the slow refinement of song structures.
