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

在菲尔德自然历史博物馆约翰·m·贝茨博士的指导下，本论文将资助Jose G. Tello对分布在巴西新热带低地的两种鸟类谱系进行详细的系统地理学研究。系统地理学是研究系谱谱系的地理分布的原理和过程的一个领域。新热带地区鸟类分化的系统发育模式，或这些模式的时空一致性的存在，才刚刚开始被研究。这项研究涉及使用线粒体和核DNA序列研究两个独立的鸟类谱系- Cercomacra蚁鸟和Platyrinchus捕蝇鸟的多样化。系统发生学的产生不仅将揭示该地区的进化史，而且将有助于阐明不同的生态和行为特征在多样化过程中可能发挥的作用。这项基础研究将是第一个使用多个数据集和多个谱系广泛检查新热带低地系统地理模式的研究之一，从而为该地区多样化的历史提供重要的见解。

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.