Density-dependent diversification in North American wood warblers.

ABSTRACT: Evidence from both molecular phylogenies and the fossil record suggests that rates of species diversification often decline through time during evolutionary radiations. One proposed explanation for this pattern is ecological opportunity, whereby an initial abundance of resources and lack of potential competitors facilitate rapid diversification. This model predicts density-dependent declines in diversification rates, but has not been formally tested in any species-level radiation. Here we develop a new conceptual framework that distinguishes density dependence from alternative processes that also produce temporally declining diversification, and we demonstrate this approach using a new phylogeny of North American Dendroica wood warblers. We show that explosive lineage accumulation early in

SUBMITTER: Rabosky DL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2603228 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature