TY - JOUR
T1 - Ecological and evolutionary determinants for the adaptive radiation of the Madagascan vangas
AU - Jønsson, Knud Andreas
AU - Fabre, Pierre-Henri Fréderic
AU - Fritz, Susanne
AU - Etieenne, Rampal S.
AU - Ricklefs, Robert E.
AU - Jørgensen, Tobias B.
AU - Fjeldså, Jon
AU - Rahbek, Carsten
AU - Ericson, Per G. P.
AU - Woog, Friederike
AU - Pasquet, Eric
AU - Irestedt, Martin
PY - 2012/4/24
Y1 - 2012/4/24
N2 - Adaptive radiation is the rapid diversification of a single lineage into many species that inhabit a variety of environments or use a variety of resources and differ in traits required to exploit these. Why some lineages undergo adaptive radiation is notwell-understood, but filling unoccupied ecological space appears to be a common feature. We construct a complete, dated, species-level phylogeny of the endemic Vangidae of Madagascar. This passerine bird radiation represents a classic, butpoorly known, avian adaptive radiation. Ourresults reveal an initial rapid increase in evolutionary lineages and diversification in morphospace after colonizing Madagascar in the late Oligocene some 25 Mya. A subsequent key innovation involving unique bill morphology was associated with a second increase in diversification rates about 10 Mya. The volume of morphospace occupied by contemporary Madagascan vangas is in many aspects as large (shape variation) - or even larger (size variation) - as that of other better-known avian adaptive radiations, including the much younger Galapagos Darwin's finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers. Morphological space bears a close relationship to diet, substrate use, and foraging movements, and thus our results demonstrate the great extent of the evolutionary diversification of the Madagascan vangas.
AB - Adaptive radiation is the rapid diversification of a single lineage into many species that inhabit a variety of environments or use a variety of resources and differ in traits required to exploit these. Why some lineages undergo adaptive radiation is notwell-understood, but filling unoccupied ecological space appears to be a common feature. We construct a complete, dated, species-level phylogeny of the endemic Vangidae of Madagascar. This passerine bird radiation represents a classic, butpoorly known, avian adaptive radiation. Ourresults reveal an initial rapid increase in evolutionary lineages and diversification in morphospace after colonizing Madagascar in the late Oligocene some 25 Mya. A subsequent key innovation involving unique bill morphology was associated with a second increase in diversification rates about 10 Mya. The volume of morphospace occupied by contemporary Madagascan vangas is in many aspects as large (shape variation) - or even larger (size variation) - as that of other better-known avian adaptive radiations, including the much younger Galapagos Darwin's finches and Hawaiian honeycreepers. Morphological space bears a close relationship to diet, substrate use, and foraging movements, and thus our results demonstrate the great extent of the evolutionary diversification of the Madagascan vangas.
U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1115835109
DO - 10.1073/pnas.1115835109
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 22505736
SN - 0027-8424
VL - 109
SP - 6620
EP - 6625
JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
IS - 17
ER -