Comparative
phylogeography of Neotropical birds
with
cross-Andes distributions
generously supported
by:
PI
Robb T.
Brumfield, Ph.D., Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University
Senior
Scientists
Alexandre
Aleixo, Ph.D., Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Belém, Pará,
Brazil
Daniel Cadena, Ph.D., Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia
Jorge Pérez-Emán, Ph.D., Instituto de Zoologia Tropical, Universidad
Central de Venezuela
Other Collaborators:
Curt Burney, Ph.D.,
USAF
Mike Hickerson, Ph.D., Queens College, CUNY
Project
Summary:
Regional
biological diversity reaches a zenith in the tropical rain forests of South
America, yet the evolutionary and ecological mechanisms responsible for the origin
and maintenance of this diversity remain very poorly understood. The primary goal of this project is to
use a comparative phylogeographic framework to investigate the role of the
Andes as a historical and contemporary diversifying barrier for lowland
organisms. The major research
objectives are to: 1) collect genetic data from 125 avian species or species
groups with cross-Andes distributions, 2) infer the geographic structure of
populations, 3) test whether these data can statistically reject a model in
which a single vicariant event (e.g. the Andean uplift) explains the
distribution of cross-Andes genetic divergence values, 3) test for effects of
ecological, behavioral, and demographic variables on levels of cross-Andes
genetic divergence, 4) use ecological niche modeling to test how climatic
variables influence the current isolation (humid forest species) or
connectivity (non-forest species) of populations, 5) reconstruct the
paleo-distribution of habitats at putative cross-Andes dispersal corridors and
use ecological niche modeling of individual species to test whether cross-Andes
dispersal was plausible for them across the paleo-corridor, 7) for a subset of
25 humid forest species whose cross-Andes populations come into contact in
Colombia or Venezuela, characterize the genetic, morphological, and climatic
transitions across the contact zones.using the phylogeny as the foundation for
a suite of morphological character analyses.
25 taxa for contact zone study
Last update: 10 March
2009