Isotopic niches do not follow the expectations of niche conservatism in the bird genus Cinclodes.

ABSTRACT: Phenotypic traits are expected to be more similar among closely related species than among species that diverged long ago (all else being equal). This pattern, known as phylogenetic niche conservatism, also applies to traits that are important to determine the niche of species. To test this hypothesis on ecological niches, we analysed isotopic data from 254 museum study skins from 12 of the 16 species of the bird genus Cinclodes and measured stable isotope ratios for four different elements: carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen. We find that all traits, measured individually, or as a composite measurement, lack any phylogenetic signal, which in turn suggests a high level of lability in ecological niches. We compared these metrics to the measurements of morphological traits in the same gen

SUBMITTER: Rader JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11571101 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature