Comparative
phylogeography of Neotropical birds
with
cross-Andes distributions
PI
Robb T.
Brumfield, Ph.D., Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University
Senior
Scientists
Alexandre
Aleixo, Ph.D., Museu Paraense Em’’lio Goeldi, BelŽm, Par‡, Brazil
C. Daniel Cadena, Ph.D., Universidad de los Andes, Bogot‡, Colombia
Jorge Luis PŽrez, Ph.D., Instituto de Zoologia Tropical, Universidad Central de
Venezuela
Graduate
Students:
Curt Burney, doctoral
student, Louisiana State University
Other Collaborators:
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 150 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.
Project
Sampling: