DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Investigating patterns, processes, and the role of mimicry in the phenotypic evolution of Tyrannini flycatchers

University Of Washington, Seattle WA

Investigators

Abstract

The Tyrannini group of flycatchers contains 34 bird species, some of which are among the most common and conspicuous birds of the Americas. Several unrelated Tyrannini lineages are strikingly similar in appearance while varying greatly in body size. This makes them an important system for studying the biological processes that cause distantly related species to resemble each other. This research will foster graduate student training at the University of Washington, international collaborations between scientists in the United States and Latin America, and public science education and outreach at the Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture in Seattle. Phenotypic convergence can be explained by common ancestry, chance, parallel selection, or mimicry. Disentangling these alternatives requires concurrent analyses of phylogenetic history, character evolution, and behavioral ecology. Interspecific social dominance mimicry (ISDM) is a two-party mimicry system mediated by interference competition in which the model (the species being mimicked) is also the signal receiver. This research explores the patterns, processes, and the role of ISDM in the phenotypic evolution of Tyrannini flycatchers. The researchers will construct a species-level phylogeny of Tyrannini using sequence capture, investigate patterns and correlations between visual and acoustic phenotypes using phylogenetic comparative methods, and evaluate ecological evidence for ISDM and alternative mimicry hypotheses using behavioral field experiments.