Systematics and Evolutionary Ecology of New and Old-World Avian Sister Radiations (Aves: Mimidae & Sturnidae)

世界上150种嘲鸟和椋鸟在歌唱行为、交配系统、颜色、地理分布和其他生物学家和公众高度感兴趣的特征方面具有真正显著的多样性。通过使用DNA作为物种之间相似性和差异性的强大信息来源，将确定这两个魅力鸟类家族的进化树。这项研究将为两组鸟类生成第一个强大的进化树，这两组鸟类以前曾是生态学，行为学和生理学方面各种研究计划的主题，这些树将加入不断增长的“生命之树”，该树结合了许多NSF资助项目的信息。这些进化树将被用来探索为什么某些物种表现出某些特征的原因：例如，为什么有些但不是所有的模仿鸟模仿其他鸟类的声音？ 为什么有些椋鸟会在大型合作群体中繁殖，而其他物种则会单独成对筑巢？ 只有当对当前现象的研究与对这些生物特征更深层次的进化根源的探索相结合时，这些问题才能得到很好的回答。 在公共领域，该项目将允许使用许多媒体渠道，通过将进化树与流行的兴趣主题（如交配行为，模仿，美丽的鸟类和生物多样性）联系起来，突出进化的重要性。

The world's 150 species of mockingbirds and starlings have truly remarkable diversity in singing behavior, mating systems, coloration, geographic distributions, and other traits of high interest to both biologists and the general public. By using DNA as a powerful source of information on the similarities and differences among species, evolutionary trees for these two charismatic families of birds will determined. This study will generate the first robust evolutionary trees for two groups birds that have previously been the subjects of diverse research initiatives in ecology, behavior, and physiology, and these trees will join the growing "Tree of Life" that combines information from many NSF-funded projects. These evolutionary trees will be used to explore the reasons why certain species exhibit certain traits: for example, why do some but not all mockingbirds mimic the sounds of other birds? Why do some starlings breed in large cooperative groups, whereas other species nest in solitary pairs? Questions like these can only be answered well when studies of current phenomena are combined with explorations of the deeper evolutionary roots of those biological traits. In the public realm, this project will allow to use many media outlets to highlight the importance of evolution by linking evolutionary trees with topics of popular interest such as mating behavior, mimicry, beautiful birds, and biodiversity.