The drivers of tropical speciation.

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Abstract

Since the recognition that allopatric speciation can be induced by large-scale reconfigurations of the landscape that isolate formerly continuous populations, such as the separation of continents by plate tectonics, the uplift of mountains or the formation of large rivers, landscape change has been viewed as a primary driver of biological diversification. This process is referred to in biogeography as vicariance. In the most species-rich region of the world, the Neotropics, the sundering of populations associated with the Andean uplift is ascribed this principal role in speciation. An alternative model posits that rather than being directly linked to landscape change, allopatric speciation is initiated to a greater extent by dispersal events, with the principal drivers of speciation being organism-specific abilities to persist and disperse in the landscape. Landscape change is not a necessity for speciation in this model. Here we show that spatial and temporal patterns of genetic differentiation in Neotropical birds are highly discordant across lineages and are not reconcilable with a model linking speciation solely to landscape change. Instead, the strongest predictors of speciation are the amount of time a lineage has persisted in the landscape and the ability of birds to move through the landscape matrix. These results, augmented by the observation that most species-level diversity originated after episodes of major Andean uplift in the Neogene period, suggest that dispersal and differentiation on a matrix previously shaped by large-scale landscape events was a major driver of avian speciation in lowland Neotropical rainforests.

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Journal

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Nature

Title: Nature

Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC

ISSN (Electronic): 1476-4687

ISSN (Print): 0028-0836

Publication date (Electronic): Nov 20 2014

Volume: 515

Issue: 7527

Affiliations

[1 ] 1] Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA [2] Department of Ornithology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024, USA [3].

[2 ] 1] Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA [2] Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, California 90041, USA (J.E.M.); Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA (A.M.C. &E.P.D.); Department of Biology, 2355 Faculty Drive, Suite 2P483, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado 80840, USA (C.W.B.); Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA (B.C.F.).

[3 ] 1] Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA [2] Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA [3] Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, California 90041, USA (J.E.M.); Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA (A.M.C. &E.P.D.); Department of Biology, 2355 Faculty Drive, Suite 2P483, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado 80840, USA (C.W.B.); Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA (B.C.F.).

[4 ] 1] Biology Department, City College of New York, New York, New York 10031, USA [2] Division of Invertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, New York 10024, USA.

[5 ] Coordenação de Zoologia, Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi, Caixa Postal 399, CEP 66040-170, Belém, Brazil.

[6 ] Laboratorio de Biología Evolutiva de Vertebrados, Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia.

[7 ] 1] Instituto de Zoología y Ecología Tropical, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Av. Los Ilustres, Los Chaguaramos, Apartado Postal 47058, Caracas 1041-A, Venezuela [2] Colección Ornitológica Phelps, Apartado 2009, Caracas 1010-A, Venezuela.

[8 ] Biology Department, City College of New York, New York, New York 10031, USA.

[9 ] 1] Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA [2] Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA.

[10 ] 1] Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, California 90095, USA [2] Moore Laboratory of Zoology, Occidental College, 1600 Campus Road, Los Angeles, California 90041, USA (J.E.M.); Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, Louisiana 70118, USA (A.M.C. &E.P.D.); Department of Biology, 2355 Faculty Drive, Suite 2P483, United States Air Force Academy, Colorado 80840, USA (C.W.B.); Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA (B.C.F.).

[11 ] Department of Environmental Health Science, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602, USA.

[12 ] 1] Museum of Natural Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA [2] Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803, USA [3].

Article

Publisher Item ID: nature13687

DOI: 10.1038/nature13687

PubMed ID: 25209666

SO-VID: 1dc95e59-6132-4b34-8fd8-eace3cd6e9c1

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