Dry forest bird communities in South America are often fragmented by intervening mountains and rainforests, generating high local endemism. The historical assembly of dry forest communities likely results from dynamic processes linked to numerous population histories among codistributed species. Nevertheless, species may diversify in the same way through time if landscape and environmental features, or species ecologies, similarly structure populations. Here we tested whether six co-distributed taxon pairs that occur in the dry forests of the Tumbes and Marañón Valley of northwestern South America show concordant patterns and modes of diversification. We employed a genome reduction technique, double-digest restriction site-associated DNA sequencing, and obtained 4407-7186 genomewide SNPs. We estimated demographic history in each taxon pair and inferred that all pairs had the same best-fit demographic model: isolation with asymmetric gene flow from the Tumbes into the Marañón Valley, suggesting a common diversification mode. Overall, we also observed congruence in effective population size (N ) patterns where ancestral N were 2.9-11.0× larger than present-day Marañón Valley populations and 0.3-2.0× larger than Tumbesian populations. Present-day Marañón Valley N was smaller than Tumbes. In contrast, we found simultaneous population isolation due to a single event to be unlikely as taxon pairs diverged over an extended period of time (0.1-2.9 Ma) with multiple nonoverlapping divergence periods. Our results show that even when populations of codistributed species asynchronously diverge, the mode of their differentiation can remain conserved over millions of years. Divergence by allopatric isolation due to barrier formation does not explain the mode of differentiation between these two bird assemblages; rather, migration of individuals occurred before and after geographic isolation.
Plant phenology-the timing of plant life cycle stages such as flowering or leaf senescence-plays a critical role in terrestrial ecosystems and is known to be responsive to environmental changes (Rathcke and Lacey, 1985; Ollerton and Lack, 1992; Cleland et al., 2007; Chuine, 2010). The fingerprint of accelerating global change, including both global-scale climatic changes and their local-scale outcomes, along with human disturbance, may show its first biotic signs in disrupted phenologies. These disruptions can have significant consequences if they lead to phenological mismatches between plants and the animals that depend on them (Kudo and Ida, 2013; Mayor et al., 2017). Plant phenology data that cover broad scales have until recently only been available through monitoring networks, such as the National Phenology Network (NPN) (Schwartz et al., 2012; Rosemartin et al., 2014) in the United States, which coordinates amateur and professional scientists to make phenological observations. Although such networks provide critical data, reporting remains sparse because such networks often focus on key taxa or repeat sampling at a relatively small number of locations. Promising new resources, as well as historical resources (e.g., imaged herbarium sheets), that provide wider taxonomic and spatial coverage are becoming available digitally (Davis et al., 2015; Willis et al., 2017; Silva et al., 2018); however, these have attendant issues with sampling protocols and with proper annotation of phenological traits and species identification. An alternative set of resources that has yet to be broadly tapped for phenology studies comprises repositories of naturalist citizen science images. Here we focus in particular on iNaturalist (http://www.inatu ralist.org/) as a source of phenology data because it: (1) enforces the provision of species occurrence metadata required for scientific use; (2) manages taxonomic resources, putting a premium on quality identification, and sets objective requirements for records to be considered "research grade"; (3) allows reporting of cultivation status along with annotation of traits including phenology in metadata fields, although trait annotation is still not often used; (4) is growing at a rapid and
A wave of green leaves and multi‐colored flowers advances from low to high latitudes each spring. However, little is known about how flowering offset (i.e., ending of flowering) and duration of populations of the same species vary along environmental gradients. Understanding these patterns is critical for predicting the effects of future climate and land‐use change on plants, pollinators, and herbivores. Here, we investigated potential climatic and landscape drivers of flowering onset, offset, and duration of 52 plant species with varying key traits. We generated phenology estimates using >270,000 community‐science photographs and a novel presence‐only phenometric estimation method. We found longer flowering durations in warmer areas, which is more obvious for summer‐blooming species compared to spring‐bloomers driven by their strongly differing offset dynamics. We also found that higher human population density and higher annual precipitation are associated with delayed flowering offset and extended flowering duration. Finally, offset of woody perennials was more sensitive than herbaceous species to both climate and urbanization drivers. Empirical forecast models suggested that flowering durations will be longer in 2030 and 2050 under representative concentration pathway (RCP) 8.5, especially for summer‐blooming species. Our study provides critical insight into drivers of key flowering phenophases and confirms that Hopkins’ Bioclimatic Law also applies to flowering durations for summer‐blooming species and herbaceous spring‐blooming species.
Geographic range shifts can cause secondary contact and hybridization between closely related species, revealing mechanisms of species formation and integrity. These dynamics typically play out in restricted geographic regions, but highly vagile species may experience major distributional changes resulting in broad areas of contact. The Glossy Ibis (Plegadis falcinellus) is a dispersive waterbird of the Old World and Australia that colonized eastern North America in the early 19th century and came into contact with the native White‐faced Ibis (P. chihi). Putative hybrids between the two species have been observed across North America. To examine the population genomic consequences of this natural invasion, we sequenced 4,616 ultraconserved elements from 66 individuals sampled across the distributions of falcinellus, chihi, and the Puna Ibis (P. ridgwayi) of South America. We found genomic differentiation among the three species. Loci with high sequence divergence were often shared across all pairwise species comparisons, were associated with regions of high nucleotide diversity, and were concentrated on the Z chromosome. We detected signals of genetic admixture between chihi and falcinellus in individuals both near and far from their core area of sympatry. Genomic cline analyses revealed evidence of greater introgression into falcinellus from chihi, but we found little evidence for selection against hybrids. We also found signals of admixture between ridgwayi and South American populations of chihi. Our results indicate vagile species can experience pervasive introgression upon secondary contact, although we suggest these dynamics may be more ephemeral than the stable hybrid zones often observed in less dispersive organisms.
Quaternary paleontological and archaeological evidence often is crucial for uncovering the historical mechanisms shaping modern diversity and distributions. We take an interdisciplinary approach using multiple lines of evidence to understand how past human activity has shaped long-term animal diversity in an island system. Islands afford unique opportunities for such studies given their robust fossil and archaeological records. Herein, we examine the only non-volant terrestrial mammal endemic to the Bahamian Archipelago, the hutia Geocapromys ingrahami. this capromyine rodent once inhabited many islands but is now restricted to several small cays. Radiocarbon dated fossils indicate that hutias were present on the Great Bahama Bank islands before humans arrived at AD ~800-1000; all dates from other islands post-date human arrival. Using ancient DNA from a subset of these fossils, along with modern representatives of Bahamian hutia and related taxa, we develop a fossil-calibrated phylogeny. We found little genetic divergence among individuals from within either the northern or southern Bahamas but discovered a relatively deep North-South divergence (~750 ka). This result, combined with radiocarbon dating and archaeological evidence, reveals a pre-human biogeographic divergence, and an unexpected human role in shaping Bahamian hutia diversity and biogeography across islands.The modern diversity and distribution of species are due to both natural factors across geological time, and human activities during the Quaternary. Humans have caused extinctions and contraction/fragmentation of ranges in countless species, while at the same time benefiting other species through introductions, habitat modification, and domestication. Long appreciated as places to study evolution, extinction, biogeography, and archaeology 1-3 , many islands also provide excellent settings to evaluate the relative roles of climate and associated habitat change versus human activities in shaping modern plant and animal communities e.g. 4,5 . In the West Indies, for example, the record of vertebrates from archaeological (cultural) and paleontological (non-cultural) sites reveals substantial extinction (species-level loss) and extirpation (population-level loss) of species since the late Quaternary. Some of these losses are thought to be related to the major changes in sea level, land area, and climate during the Pleistocene-Holocene Transition (the PHT; ~15,000 to 9,000 BP 6-9
Insect phenological lability is key for determining which species will adapt under environmental change. However, little is known about when adult insect activity terminates and overall activity duration. We used community-science and museum specimen data to investigate the effects of climate and urbanisation on timing of adult insect activity for 101 species varying in life history traits. We found detritivores and species with aquatic larval stages extend activity periods most rapidly in response to increasing regional temperature. Conversely, species with subterranean larval stages have relatively constant durations regardless of regional temperature. Species extended their period of adult activity similarly in warmer conditions regardless of voltinism classification. Longer adult durations may represent a general response to warming, but voltinism data in subtropical environments are likely underreported. This effort provides a framework to address the drivers of adult insect phenology at continental scales and a basis for predicting species response to environmental change.
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