Contrasting drivers of diversification rates on islands and continents across three passerine families

Diversification rates vary greatly among taxa. Understanding how species-specific traits influence speciation rates will help elucidate mechanisms driving biodiversity over broad spatio-temporal scales. Ecological specialization and range size are two hypothesized drivers of speciation rates, yet ea...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society. B, Biological sciences Biological sciences, 2019-11, Vol.286 (1915), p.20191757-20191757
Main Authors: Conway, Meaghan, Olsen, Brian J
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Biological
Animal Distribution
Animals
Biodiversity
Biological Evolution
Evolution
Genetic Speciation
Islands
Songbirds
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Diversification rates vary greatly among taxa. Understanding how species-specific traits influence speciation rates will help elucidate mechanisms driving biodiversity over broad spatio-temporal scales. Ecological specialization and range size are two hypothesized drivers of speciation rates, yet each mechanism predicts both increases and decreases in speciation. We constructed a continuous index of specialization using avian bill morphology to determine the relative effect of specialization and range size and shape on speciation rates across 559 species within the Emberizoidea superfamily, a morphologically diverse New World clade. We found a significant positive correlation between specialization and speciation rate and a negative correlation with range size. Only the effect of specialization persisted after removing island endemics, however, suggesting that ecological specialization is an important driver of diversity across large macroevolutionary scales, and the relative importance of specific drivers may differ between islands and continents.
ISSN:0962-8452
1471-2954
DOI:10.1098/rspb.2019.1757