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

Oregon State University, Corvallis OR

Investigators

Abstract

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.