Dissertation Enhancement Grant: Understanding the Evolution of Neotropical Diversity: Implications from Phylogenetic Patterns in Ttwo co-distributed Avian Genera

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This dissertation enhancement grant will support Jose G. Tello under the direction of Dr. John M. Bates of the Field Museum of Natural History for a detailed study of the phylogeography of two bird lineages distributed throughout the Neotropical lowlands in Brazil. Phylogeography is a field of study concerned with the principles and processes that underlie the geographical distribution of genealogical lineages. Phylogenetic patterns of avian (bird) differentiation within the Neotropics, or the existence of spatial and temporal congruence of those patterns, are just beginning to be studied. This research involves the study of the diversification of two independent avian lineages -- Cercomacra antbirds and Platyrinchus flycatchers -- using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences.The generation of phylogenies will not only shed light on the region's evolutionary history, but also will help to elucidate the roles that different ecological and behavioral traits may have played in the diversification process. This fundamental research will constitute one of the first to extensively examine phylogeographic patterns in the Neotropical lowlands using multiple data sets and multiple lineages, and hence provide important insights into the history of diversification in the region.