The evolution of a tropical biodiversity hotspot

2020/12/10 by Michael Harvey, Gustavo A. Bravo, Santiago Claramunt +18 · 11 citations
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Genetic diversity and population structure

paper · doi:10.1126/science.aaz6970

openalex publication_date 2020/12/10 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

The tropics are the source of most biodiversity yet inadequate sampling obscures answers to fundamental questions about how this diversity evolves. We leveraged samples assembled over decades of fieldwork to study diversification of the largest tropical bird radiation, the suboscine passerines. Our phylogeny, estimated using data from 2389 genomic regions in 1940 individuals of 1283 species, reveals that peak suboscine species diversity in the Neotropics is not associated with high recent speciation rates but rather with the gradual accumulation of species over time. Paradoxically, the highest speciation rates are in lineages from regions with low species diversity, which are generally cold, dry, unstable environments. Our results reveal a model in which species are forming faster in environmental extremes but have accumulated in moderate environments to form tropical biodiversity hotspots.

Citations

• LINEAGE DIVERSIFICATION AND MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IN A LARGE-SCALE CONTINENTAL RADIATION: THE NEOTROPICAL OVENBIRDS AND WOODCREEPERS (AVES: FURNARIIDAE)
• Modelling the enigmatic Late Pliocene Glacial Event — Marine Isotope Stage M2
• Why Mountain Passes are Higher in the Tropics
• Species Richness at Continental Scales Is Dominated by Ecological Limits
• Whole-genome analyses resolve early branches in the tree of life of modern birds
• Methods to account for spatial autocorrelation in the analysis of species distributional data: a review
• DIVERGENT TIMING AND PATTERNS OF SPECIES ACCUMULATION IN LOWLAND AND HIGHLAND NEOTROPICAL BIRDS
• The Causes Of Species Richness Patterns Across Space, Time, And Clades And The Role Of “Ecological Limits”
• Terrestrial Ecoregions of the World: A New Map of Life on Earth
• RevBayes: Bayesian Phylogenetic Inference Using Graphical Models and an Interactive Model-Specification Language
• Bayesian estimation of the global biogeographical history of the Solanaceae
• Extant timetrees are consistent with a myriad of diversification histories

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