Continental phylogeography of an ecologically and morphologically diverse Neotropical songbird, Zonotrichia capensis.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The Neotropics are exceptionally diverse, containing roughly one third of all extant bird species on Earth. This remarkable species richness is thought to be a consequence of processes associated with both Andean orogenesis throughout the Tertiary, and climatic fluctuations during the Quaternary. Phylogeographic studies allow insights into how such events might have influenced evolutionary trajectories of species and ultimately contribute to a better understanding of speciation. Studies on continentally distributed species are of particular interest because different populations of such taxa may show genetic signatures of events that impacted the continent-wide biota. Here we evaluate the genealogical history of one of the world's most broadly-distributed and polytypic p

SUBMITTER: Lougheed SC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3632491 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature