(SGER) Generation of Tropical Diversity by Dispersal Constraints and Restricted Gene Flow

几个世纪以来，生物学家一直没有弄清楚热带生物多样性产生的机制。这个项目测试了这样的假设：跨分类群的迁移变化将促进或阻碍长距离基因流动，从而推动种群细分、分化和最终物种形成的差异。这个SGER将产生基因流在采样样带的初步估计，并展示在我们的目标分类群遗传结构的空间格局的程度。这项研究将首次通过实验量化新热带鸟类的潜在移动性，同样也将首次将移动性估计与基因流动的长期模式进行比较。由此产生的澄清行为和种群细分之间的联系对我们理解种群分化、谱系分化和物种形成的历史过程具有深远的意义。研究结果将对快速破碎的热带森林中出现的许多分类群（鸟类和其他）具有重要和直接的保护应用，并将为热带景观中种群（非）连通性的后果提供见解。

The mechanisms underlying the generation of tropical diversity have eluded biologists for centuries. This project tests the hypothesis that variation in mobility across taxa will promote or retard long-distance gene flow and thereby drive differences in population subdivision, divergence, and ultimately speciation. This SGER will generate preliminary estimates of gene flow across a sampling transect and demonstrate the degree of spatial pattern in genetic structure within our target taxa.This study will be the first to quantify experimentally the potential mobility of Neotropical birds and similarly will be the first to compare estimates of mobility with long-term patterns of gene flow. The resulting clarification of the links between behavior and population subdivision have far-reaching implications for our understanding of the historical processes of population differentiation, lineage divergence, and speciation. The results will have important and direct conservation applications for the many taxa (avian and otherwise) that occur in rapidly fragmenting tropical forests and will provide insight into the consequences of population (dis)connectivity in tropical landscapes.