Dramatic niche shifts and morphological change in two insular bird species

Sammanfattning

Colonizations of islands are often associated with rapid morphological divergence. We present two previously unrecognized cases of dramatic morphological change and niche shifts in connection with colonization of tropical forest-covered islands. These evolutionary changes have concealed the fact that the passerine birds madanga, Madanga ruficollis, from Buru, Indonesia, and São Tomé shorttail, Amaurocichla bocagii, from São Tomé, Gulf of Guinea, are forest-adapted members of the family Motacillidae (pipits and wagtails). We show that Madanga has diverged mainly in plumage, which may be the result of selection for improved camouflage in its new arboreal niche, while selection pressures for other morphological changes have probably been weak owing to preadaptations for the novel niche. By contrast, we suggest that Amaurocichla's niche change has led to divergence in both structure and plumage.

Nyckelord

speciation; adaptive change; niche shifts; morphological divergence

Publicerad i

Royal Society Open Science
2015, volym: 2, nummer: 3

SLU författare

• Alström, Per

  • SLU Artdatabanken, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet
    

• Ödeen, Anders

  • Uppsala universitet

UKÄ forskningsämne

Bioinformatik och beräkningsbiologi (Metodutveckling under 10203)
Biologisk systematik
Evolutionsbiologi

Publikationens identifierare

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.140364

Permanent länk till denna sida (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/69857