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Dryad

Data from: Why is Amazonia a ‘source’ of biodiversity? climate-mediated dispersal and synchronous speciation across the Andes in an avian group (Tityrinae)

Cite this dataset

Musher, Lukas J. et al. (2019). Data from: Why is Amazonia a ‘source’ of biodiversity? climate-mediated dispersal and synchronous speciation across the Andes in an avian group (Tityrinae) [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.43n9j1p

Abstract

Amazonia is a ‘source’ of biodiversity for other Neotropical ecosystems, but which conditions trigger in situ speciation and emigration is contentious. Three hypotheses for how communities have assembled include (1) a stochastic model wherein chance dispersal events lead to gradual emigration and species accumulation, (2) diversity-dependence wherein successful dispersal events decline through time due to ecological limits, and (3) barrier displacement wherein environmental change facilitates dispersal to other biomes via transient habitat corridors. We sequenced thousands of molecular markers for the Neotropical Tityrinae (Aves) and applied a novel filtering protocol to identify loci with high utility for dated phylogenomics. We used these loci to estimate divergence times and model Tityrinae’s evolutionary history. We detected a prominent role for speciation driven by barriers including synchronous speciation across the Andes, and found that dispersal increased toward the present. Because diversification was continuous but dispersal was non-random over time, we show that barrier displacement better explains Tityrinae’s history than stochasticity or diversity-dependence. We propose that Amazonia is a source of biodiversity because (1) it is a relic of a biome that was once more extensive, (2) environmentally-mediated corridors facilitated emigration, and (3) constant diversification is attributed to a spatially heterogeneous landscape that is perpetually dynamic through time.

Usage notes

Funding

National Science Foundation, Award: NSF/NASA 1241066, NSF 1146248, FAPESP 2012/50260-6

Location

South America
Central America
Neotropical realm
Mexico