Pliocene forest dynamics as a primary driver of African bird speciation

Global Ecology and Biogeography

Volumn 19, Issue 1, 2010, Pages 111-121

  Voelker, Gary ^a   Outlaw, Robert K ^b   Bowie, Rauri C K ^c  

^a TEXAS A AND M UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF MEMPHIS   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA   (United States)

Author keywords

Africa; Forest robins; Montane diversification; Pliocene; Refugia; Speciation; Species pump; Vicariance

Indexed keywords

BIRD; CLIMATE EFFECT; ENDEMISM; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; ESTIMATION METHOD; EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY; FOREST DYNAMICS; MONTANE FOREST; PHYLOGENY; PLIOCENE; SPECIATION (BIOLOGY); SPECIES RICHNESS;

AFRICA;

ANIMALIA; AVES; STIPHRORNIS ERYTHROTHORAX; VERTEBRATA;

EID: 72449200596     PISSN: 1466822X     EISSN: 14668238     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1466-8238.2009.00500.x     Document Type: Article

References (88)

1. Amer SAM, Kumazawa Y. Mitochondrial DNA sequences of the Afro-Arabian spiny-tailed lizards (genus Uromastyx; family Agamidae): phylogenetic analyses and evolution of gene arrangements. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 2005, 85:247-260.
2. Beresford P. Molecular systematic of Alethe, Sheppardia and some other African robins (Muscicapoidea). Ostrich 2003, 74:58-73.
3. Beresford P, Cracraft J. Speciation in African forest robins (Stiphrornis): species limits, phylogenetic relationships, and molecular biogeography. American Museum Novitates 1999, 3270:1-22.
4. Beresford P, Fjeldså J, Kiure J. A new species of akalat (Sheppardia) narrowly endemic in the Eastern Arc of Tanzania. Auk 2004, 121:23-34.
5. Blackburn DC, Measey GJ. Dispersal to or from an African biodiversity hotspot. Molecular Ecology 2009, 18:1904-1915.
6. Bowie RCK, Fjeldså J, Hackett SJ, Crowe TM. Systematics and biogeography of double-collared sunbirds from the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania. Auk 2004, 121:660-681.
7. Bowie RCK, Voelker G, Fjelsdå J, Lens L, Hackett SJ, Crowe TM. Systematics of the olive thrush Turdus olivaceus species complex with reference to the taxonomic status of the endangered Taita thrush T. helleri. Journal of Avian Biology 2005, 36:391-404.
8. Bowie RCK, Fjeldså J, Hackett SJ, Bates JM, Crowe TM. Coalescent models reveal the relative roles of ancestral polymorphism, vicariance and dispersal in shaping phylogeographical structure of an African montane forest robin. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 2006, 38:171-188.
9. Brooks T, Balmford A, Burgess N, Fjeldså J, Hansen LA, Moore J, Rahbek C, Williams P. Toward a blueprint for conservation in Africa. BioScience 2001, 51:613-624.
10. Brühl CA. Flightless insects: a test case for historical relationships of African mountains. Journal of Biogeography 1997, 24:233-250.
11. Burgess ND, Butynski TM, Cordeiro NJ, Doggart NH, Fjeldså J, Howell KM, Kilahama FB, Loader SP, Lovett JC, Mbilinyi B, Menegon M, Moyer DC, Nashanda E, Perkin A, Rovero F, Stanley WT, Stuart SN. The biological importance of the Eastern Arc Mountains of Tanzania and Kenya. Biological Conservation 2007, 134:209-231.
12. Bush MB, Gosling WD, Colinvaux PA, Bush MB, Flenley JR. Climate change in the lowlands of the Amazon basin. Tropical rainforest response to climate change 2007, 55-76. ed. by, pp., Springer-Praxis, Berlin
13. Cadena CD, Klicka J, Ricklefs RE. Evolutionary differentiation in the Neotropical motane region: molecular phylogenetics and phylogeography of Buarremon brush-finches (Aves, Emberizidae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 2007, 44:993-1016.
14. Carnaval AC, Moritz C. Historical climate modeling predicts patterns of current biodiversity in the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Journal of Biogeography 2008, 35:1187-1201.
15. Carnaval AC, Hickerson MJ, Haddad CFB, Rodrigues MT, Moritz C. Stability predicts genetic diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic forest hotspot. Science 2009, 323:785-789.
16. Collar N, del Hoyo J, Elliot A, Christie DA. Family Turdidae (Thrushes). Handbook of the birds of the world 2005, 514-807. Vol. 10, ed. by, pp., Lynx Edicions, Barcelona
17. Couvreur TLP, Chatrou LW, Sosef MSM, Richardson JE. Molecular phylogenetics reveal multiple tertiary vicariance origins of the African rain forest trees. BMC Biology 2008, 6:54.
18. Crowe TM, Crowe AA. Patterns of distribution, diversity and endemism in Afrotropical birds. Journal of Zoology, London 1982, 198:417-442.
19. Diamond AW, Hamilton AC. The distribution of forest passerine birds and Quaternary climatic change in tropical Africa. Journal of Zoology, London 1980, 191:379-402.
20. Dowsett RJ, Dowsett-Lemaire F. Comments on the taxonomy of some Afrotropical bird species. Tauraco Research, Report 1993, 5:323-389.
21. Fattorini S. Historical relationships of African mountains based on cladistic analysis of distributions and endemism of flightless insects. African Entomology 2007, 15:340-355.
22. Feakins SJ, Menocal PB, Eglinton TI. Biomarker records of late Neogene changes in northeast African vegetation. Geology 2005, 33:977-980.
23. Filardi CE, Moyle RG. Single origin of a pan-Pacific bird group and upstream colonization of Australasia. Nature 2005, 438:216-219.
24. Fjeldså J. Geographical patterns for relict and young species of birds in Africa and South America and implications for conservation priorities. Biodiversity and Conservation 1994, 3:207-226.
25. Fjeldså J, Bowie RCK. New perspectives on the origin and diversification of Africa's forest avifauna. African Journal of Ecology 2008, 46:235-247.
26. Fjeldså J, Lovett JC. Geographical patterns of old and young species in African forest biota: the significance of specific montane areas as evolutionary centers. Biodiversity and Conservation 1997, 6:325-347.
27. Fjeldså J, Rahbek C. Diversification of tanagers, a species rich bird group, from lowlands to montane regions of South America. Integrative and Comparative Biology 2006, 46:72-81.
28. Fjeldså J, Johansson US, Lokugalappatti LGS, Bowie RCK. Diversification of African greenbuls in space and time: linking ecological and historical processes. Journal of Ornithology 2007, 148:S359-S367.
29. Fleischer RC, Mcintosh CE, Tarr CL. Evolution on a volcanic conveyor belt: using phylogeographic reconstructions and K-Ar-based ages of the Hawaiian Islands to estimate molecular evolutionary rates. Molecular Ecology 1998, 7:533-545.
30. García-Moreno J, Fjeldså J. Chronology and mode of speciation in the Andean avifauna. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium: isolated vertebrate communities in the tropics. Bonn Zoological Monographs 2000, 46:25-46.
31. Ghalambor CK, Huey RB, Martin PR, Tewksbury JJ, Wang G. Are mountain passes higher in the tropics? Janzen's hypothesis revisited. Integrative and Comparative Biology 2006, 46:5-17.
32. Graham CH, Moritz C, Williams SE. Habitat history improves prediction of biodiversity in rainforest fauna. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2006, 103:632-636.
33. Grenyer R, Orme CDL, Jackson SF, Thomas GH, Davies RG, Davies TJ, Jones KE, Olson VA, Ridgely RS, Rasmussen PC, Ding TS, Bennett PM, Blackburn TM, Gaston KJ, Gittleman JL, Owens IPF. Global distribution and conservation of rare and threatened vertebrates. Nature 2006, 444:93-96.
34. Griffith CJ, Lovett JC, Wasser SK. The geological evolution of East Africa. Biogeography and ecology of the rain forests of Eastern Africa 1993, 9-21. ed. by, pp., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
35. Guillaumet A, Crochet PA, Pons JM. Climate-driven diversification in two widespread Galerida larks. BMC Evolutionary Biology 2008, 8:32.
36. Hamilton AC, Taylor D. History of climate and forests in tropical Africa during the last 8 million years. Climatic Change 1991, 19:65-78.
37. Hawkins BA, Diniz-Filho JAF, Soeller SA. Water links the historical and contemporary components of the Australian bird diversity gradient. Journal of Biogeography 2005, 32:1035-1042.
38. Hawkins BA, Diniz-Filho JAF, Jaramillo CA, Soeller SA. Post-Eocene climate change, niche conservatism, and the latitudinal diversity gradient of New World birds. Journal of Biogeography 2006, 33:770-780.
39. Ho SYW, Phillips MJ, Cooper A, Drummond AJ. Time dependency of molecular rate estimates and systematic overestimation of recent divergence times. Molecular Biology and Evolution 2005, 22:1561-1568.
40. Huelsenbeck JP, Ronquist F. MRBAYES: Bayesian inference of phylogenetic trees. Bioinformatics 2001, 17:754-755.
41. Hughes M, Möller M, Bellstedt DU, Edwards TJ, Villiers M. Refugia, dispersal and divergence in a forest archipelago: a study of Streptocarpus in eastern South Africa. Molecular Ecology 2005, 14:4415-4426.
42. Irwin MPS, Clancey PA. A re-appraisal of the generic relationships of some African forest-dwelling robins (Aves: Turdidae). Arnoldia (Rhodesia) 1974, 6:1-19.
43. Janzen DH. Why mountains passes are higher in the tropics. The American Naturalist 1967, 101:233-249.
44. Jensen FP. A review of some genera of African chats (Aves, Muscicapidae, Erithacini). Steenstrupia 1989, 15:161-175.
45. Jetz W, Rahbek C. Geographic range size and determinants of avian species richness. Science 2002, 297:1548-1551.
46. Jetz W, Rahbek C, Colwell RK. The coincidence of rarity and richness and the potential signature of history in centres of endemism. Ecology Letters 2004, 7:1180-1191.
47. Jobb G. TREEFINDER. 2007, http://www.treefinder.de/, version of June 2007. Distributed by the author. Available at: (accessed 29 August 2008
48. Johansson US, Fjeldså J, Lokugalappatti LGS, Bowie RCK. A nuclear DNA phylogeny and proposed taxonomic revision of African greenbuls (Aves, Passeriformes, Pycnonotidae). Zoologica Scripta 2007a, 36:417-427.
49. Johansson US, Alstrom P, Olsson U, Ericson PGR, Sundberg P, Price TD. Build-up of the Himalayan avifauna through immigration: a biogeographical analysis of the Phylloscopus and Seicercus warblers. Evolution 2007b, 61:324-333.
50. de Klerk HM, Crowe TM, Fjeldså J, Burgess ND. Patterns of species richness and narrow endemism of terrestrial bird species in the Afro-tropical region. Journal of Zoology, London 2002, 256:327-342.
51. Lessa EP, Cook JA, Patton JL. Genetic footprints of demographic expansion in North America, but not Amazonia, during the late Quaternary. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 2003, 100:10331-10334.
52. Lovett JC, Lovett JC, Wasser SK. Eastern Arc moist forest flora. Biogeography and ecology of the rain forests of eastern Africa 1993, 33-55. ed. by, pp., Cambridge University Press, New York
53. Maddison DR, Maddison WP. MacClade 4: analysis of phylogeny and character evolution, version 4.03 2001, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA
54. Matthee CA, Tilbury CR, Townsend T. A phylogenetic review of the African leaf chameleons: genus Rhampholeon (Chamaeleonidae): the role of vicariance and climate change in speciation. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 2004, 271:1967-1975.
55. Mayr E, O'Hara RJ. The biogeographic evidence supporting the Pleistocene forest refuge hypothesis. Evolution 1986, 40:55-66.
56. Njabo NY, Bowie RCK, Sorenson MD. Phylogeny, biogeography and taxonomy of the African wattle-eyes (Aves: Passeriformes: Platysteiridae). Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 2008, 48:136-149.
57. Oatley TB, Arnott G. Robins of Africa 1998, Acorn Books, Randberg, South Africa
58. Outlaw RK, Voelker G, Outlaw DC. Molecular systematics and historical biogeography of the rock-thrushes (Muscicapidae: Monticola). The Auk 2007, 124:561-577.
59. Patton JL, Smith MF. mtDNA phylogeny and Andean mice: a test of diversification across ecological gradients. Evolution 1992, 46:174-183.
60. Plumptre AJ, Davenport TRB, Behangana M, Kityo R, Eilu G, Ssegawa P, Ewango C, Meirte D, Kahindo C, Herremans M, Kerbis Peterhans J, Pilgrim JD, Wilson M, Languy M, Moyer D. The biodiversity of the Albertine Rift. Biological Conservation 2007, 134:178-194.
61. Posada D, Crandall KA. MODELTEST: testing the model of DNA substitution. Bioinformatics 1998, 14:817-818.
62. Rahbek C, Gotelli NJ, Colwell RK, Entsminger GL, Rangel TFLVB, Graves GR. Predicting continental-scale patterns of bird species richness with spatially explicit models. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 2007, 274:165-174.
63. Richman AD. Ecological diversification and community structure in the Old World leaf warblers (Genus Phylloscopus): a phylogenetic perspective. Evolution 1996, 50:2461-2470.
64. Ricklefs RE. A comprehensive framework for global patterns in biodiversity. Ecology Letters 2004, 7:1-15.
65. Ricklefs RE. History and diversity: explorations at the intersection of ecology and evolution. The American Naturalist 2007, 170:S56-S70.
66. Ripley SD. The thrushes. Postilla 1952, 13:1-48.
67. Ripley SD, Mayr E, Paynter RA. Family Muscicapidae, subfamily Turdinae. Check-list of birds of the world: a continuation of the work of James L. Peters 1964, 13-227. Vol. 10, ed. by, pp., Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA
68. Roy MS. Recent diversification in African greenbuls (Pycnonotidae: Andropadus) supports a montane speciation model. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 1997, 264:1337-1344.
69. Roy MS, Sponer R, Fjeldså J. Molecular systematics and evolutionary history of akalats (genus Sheppardia): a pre-Pleistocene radiation in a group of African forest birds. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 2001, 18:74-83.
70. Sanderson M. Estimating absolute rates of molecular evolution and divergence times: a penalized likelihood approach. Molecular Biology and Evolution 2002, 19:101-109.
71. Schmidt BK, Foster JT, Angehr GR, Durrant KL, Fleischer RC. A new species of African forest robin from Gabon (Passeriformes: Muscicapidae: Stiphrornis). Zootaxa 2008, 1850:27-42.
72. Sepulchre P, Ramstein G, Fluteau F, Schuster M, Tiercelin JJ, Brunet M. Tectonic uplift and eastern African aridification. Science 2006, 313:1419-1423.
73. Sibley CG, Monroe BL. Distribution and taxonomy of birds of the world 1990, Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
74. Sinclair I, Ryan P. Birds of Africa, south of the Sahara 2003, Struik Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa
75. Slikas B, Sheldon FH, Gill FB. Phylogeny of titmice (Paridae): I. Estimate of relationships among subgenera based on DNA-DNA hybridization. Journal of Avian Biology 1996, 27:70-82.
76. Stanley WT, Olson LE. Phylogeny, phylogeography, and geographic variation of Sylvisorex howelli (Soricidae), an endemic shrew of the Eastern Arc Mountains, Tanzania. Journal of Zoology, London 2005, 266:341-354.
77. Swofford DL. PAUP*. Phylogenetic analysis using parsimony (* and other methods) 2002, version 4.0b10, Sinauer Associates, Sunderland, MA
78. Taylor PJ, Maree S, van Sandwyk J, Kerbis Peterhans JC, Stanley WT, Verheyen E, Kaliba P, Verheyen W, Kaleme P, Bennett NC. Speciation mirrors geomorphology and palaeoclimatic history in African laminate-toothed rats (Muridae: Otomyini) of the Otomys denti and Otomys lacustris species-complexes in the 'Montane Circle' of East Africa. Biological Journal of the Linnean Society 2009, 96:913-941.
79. Thomas GH, Orme CD, Davies RG, Olson VA, Bennett PM, Gaston KJ, Owens IPF, Blackburn TM. Regional variation in the historical components of global avian species richness. Global Ecology and Biogeography 2008, 17:340-351.
80. Voelker G. Dispersal, vicariance and clocks: historical biogeography and speciation in a cosmopolitan passerine genus (Anthus: Motacillidae). Evolution 1999, 53:1536-1552.
81. Voelker G. Systematics and historical biogeography of wagtails (Aves: Motacilla): dispersal versus vicariance revisited. Condor 2002, 104:725-739.
82. Voelker G, Outlaw RK. Establishing a perimeter position: thrush speciation around the Indian Ocean Basin. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2008, 21:1779-1788.
83. Voelker G, Rohwer S, Outlaw DC, Bowie RCK. Repeated trans-Atlantic dispersal catalyzed a global songbird radiation. Global Ecology and Biogeography 2009, 18:41-49.
84. Voje KL, Hemp C, Flagstad Ø, Saetre GP, Stenseth NC. Climatic change as an engine for speciation in flightless Orthoptera species inhabiting African mountains. Molecular Ecology 2009, 18:93-108.
85. Vrba ES. African Bovidae: evolutionary events since the Miocene. South African Journal of Science 1985, 81:263-266.
86. Vrba ES, Goldblatt P. Mammal evolution in the African Neogene and a new look at the Great American Interchange. Biological relationships between Africa and South America 1993, 393-434. ed. by, pp., Yale University Press, New Haven, CT
87. Weir JT, Schluter D. Calibrating the avian molecular clock. Molecular Ecology 2008, 17:2321-2328.
88. Wilmé L, Goodman SM, Ganzhorn JU. Biogeographic evolution of Madagascar's microendemic biota. Science 2006, 312:1063-1065.