The dual role of Amazonian rivers in the generation and maintenance of avian diversity.

ABSTRACT: The Amazon River and its major tributaries delimit the distributions of hundreds of terrestrial taxa. It remains unclear whether river-bounded distributions and taxon replacements reflect the historical role of rivers in generating species diversity as vicariant forces, or are the result of their role as secondary barriers, maintaining current levels of species diversity by inhibiting gene flow and population introgression. We use a community-wide comparative phylogeographic and phylogenetic approach to address the roles that the Rio Negro and the Rio Branco play in the avian speciation process in the Guiana Shield. Examining 74 pairs of ecologically similar geographic replacements that turn over across the lower Negro, we found substantial variation in the levels of genetic divergence and

SUBMITTER: Naka LN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6070317 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature