COLLABORATIVE RESEARCH: Systematics of a pantropical diversification: the suboscine passerine birds

达尔文在加拉帕戈斯群岛发现的雀类是最令人印象深刻的进化论例子之一。在殖民岛屿后，单一的原始雀类物种最终多样化为13个不同大小、喙形状和生态环境的物种。亚种雀形目鸟类的历史相似，但它们的多样性并不局限于一小群岛屿；相反，它们遍布南美洲、中美洲、北美和东半球的部分地区。现在有1300个物种在身体形状和大小、取食行为和筑巢结构上有很大的差异。这个项目的主要目标是使用DNA序列重建这些物种的进化史，并使用这个模型系统来研究为什么热带地区在生物上如此多样化。这个美国和巴西科学家合作项目的一个重要组成部分是它将提供的研究培训。随着计划在阿根廷、智利、哥斯达黎加、马来西亚、委内瑞拉和越南进行实地考察，来自不同国家的青年科学家不仅将接触到不同的自然环境，还将与他们的国际同行互动并建立关系。通过合作重建可能是世界上最壮观的鸟类进化辐射，研究人员将在培训新一代科学家的同时，了解进化如何在大陆范围内发挥作用。

Darwin's finches of the Galápagos Islands stand as one of the most impressive examples of evolution. After colonizing the islands, a single ancestral finch species eventually diversified into 13 species of different sizes, bill shapes, and ecologies. The suboscine passerine birds exhibit a similar history, but their diversification was not limited to a small set of islands; instead they are found throughout South America, Central America, North America, and parts of the Old World. There are now 1,300 species that differ dramatically in body shape and size, feeding behavior, and nest architecture. The primary goal of this project is to use DNA sequences to reconstruct the evolutionary history of these species, and to use this model system to investigate why the tropics are so biologically diverse.A vital component of this collaborative project between U.S. and Brazilian scientists is the research training it will provide. With fieldwork planned in Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Malaysia, Venezuela, and Viet Nam, young scientists from a diversity of countries will be exposed not only to a diversity of natural environments but will also interact and forge relationships with their international peers. By working together to reconstruct perhaps the most spectacular evolutionary radiations of birds in the world, the researchers will learn how evolution works on a continental scale while training a new generation of scientists.