Recent postglacial range expansion drives the rapid diversification of a songbird lineage in the genus Junco.

ABSTRACT: Pleistocene glacial cycles are thought to have played a major role in the diversification of temperate and boreal species of North American birds. Given that coalescence times between sister taxa typically range from 0.1 to 2.0 Myr, it has been assumed that diversification occurred as populations were isolated in refugia over long periods of time, probably spanning one to several full glacial cycles. In contrast, the rapid postglacial range expansions and recolonization of northern latitudes following glacial maxima have received less attention as potential promoters of speciation. Here we report a case of extremely rapid diversification in the songbird genus Junco as a result of a single continent-wide range expansion within the last 10 000 years. Molecular data from 264 juncos sampled th

SUBMITTER: Mila B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2279216 | biostudies-literature | 2007 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature