The Utility of DNA Sequences of an Intron from the β-Fibrinogen Gene in Phylogenetic Analysis of Woodpeckers (Aves: Picidae)

Flight at high elevation is energetically demanding because of parallel reductions in air density and oxygen availability. The hovering flight of hummingbirds is one of the most energetically expensive forms of animal locomotion, but hummingbirds are nonetheless abundant at high elevations throughout the Americas. Two mechanisms enhance aerodynamic performance in highelevation hummingbirds: increase in wing size and wing stroke amplitude during hovering. How do these changes in morphology, kinematics, and physical properties of air combine to influence the aerodynamic power requirements of flight across elevations? Here, we present data on the flight performance of 43 Andean hummingbird species as well as a 76-taxon multilocus molecular phylogeny that served as the historical framework for comparative analyses. Along a 4,000-m elevational transect, hummingbird body mass increased systematically, placing further aerodynamic demands on high-elevation taxa. However, we found that the minimum power requirements for hovering flight remain constant with respect to elevation because hummingbirds compensate sufficiently through increases in wing size and stroke amplitude. Thus, high-elevation hummingbirds are not limited in their capacity for hovering flight despite the challenges imposed by hypobaric environments. Other flight modes including vertical ascent and fast forward flight are more mechanically and energetically demanding, and we accordingly also tested for the maximum power available to hummingbirds by using a load-lifting assay. In contrast to hovering, excess power availability decreased substantially across elevations, thereby reducing the biomechanical potential for more complex flight such as competitive and escape maneuvers.animal flight ͉ aerodynamic power requirements ͉ hummingbird phylogeny H ummingbirds are the only vertebrates capable of sustained hovering, a highly strenuous form of locomotion requiring extraordinary levels of metabolic power input (1) and mechanical power output (2). Because oxygen availability and air density decrease at higher elevations, hovering flight in alpine habitats is particularly challenging. From an aerodynamic perspective, it is therefore surprising that hummingbirds are most diverse in the Andes and reach elevations as high as 5,000 m (3, 4).Body mass, wing size and shape, wingbeat frequency, and wing stroke amplitude are important morphological and biomechanical parameters underlying hovering flight performance (5), and are likely to be the targets of selection along an elevational gradient (6). Because mass-specific induced power requirements in hovering flight are proportional to the square root of wing loading (5), high-elevation hummingbirds would benefit aerodynamically by being smaller and by having larger wings relative to low-elevation taxa. Aerodynamic theory also predicts that the mass-specific induced power requirements of hovering are inversely proportional to the square root of stroke amplitude (5). Thus, increase in this kinematic parameter should yie...

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“…(for additional details, see refs. [13][14][15]. DNA sequences are available from GenBank (accession nos.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Resolution of a paradox: Hummingbird flight at high elevation does not come without a cost

Altshuler

Dudley

McGuire

2004

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

142

128

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“…from Prychitko and Moore (1997). Primers used for reamplifications, in addition to FIBI7U and FIBI7L, were FIBI7-397U (5'-AGTAACATATAATGGTTCCTGA A-3'), FIBI7-413U (3'-TCCTGAAGAAAGAGACAG GTAGCAT-3'), FIBI7-439L (5'-CAACTGAGCTCC TGTCTTCTGAGTAGG-3'), and FIBI7-453L (5'-GTA CTTTACAACTGAGCTCCT-3').…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Molecular systematics of New World suboscine birds

Chesser

2004

Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution

101

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“…We assembled a dataset of 20 nuclear loci widely dispersed in the avian genome [supporting information (SI) Table S1] to examine ratite monophyly. It contains Ϸ30% protein-coding and 70% noncoding sequence (Table S1), taking advantage of the phylogenetic signal in archosaur noncoding sequences (26)(27)(28). The dataset comprises 18 taxa, including all extant ratite genera, four tinamou genera, and eight outgroup taxa (Table S2).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Phylogenomic evidence for multiple losses of flight in ratite birds

Harshman

Braun

et al. 2008

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

Self Cite

195

227

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Ratites (ostriches, emus, rheas, cassowaries, and kiwis) are large, flightless birds that have long fascinated biologists. Their current distribution on isolated southern land masses is believed to reflect the breakup of the paleocontinent of Gondwana. The prevailing view is that ratites are monophyletic, with the flighted tinamous as their sister group, suggesting a single loss of flight in the common ancestry of ratites. However, phylogenetic analyses of 20 unlinked nuclear genes reveal a genome-wide signal that unequivocally places tinamous within ratites, making ratites polyphyletic and suggesting multiple losses of flight. Phenomena that can mislead phylogenetic analyses, including long branch attraction, base compositional bias, discordance between gene trees and species trees, and sequence alignment errors, have been eliminated as explanations for this result. The most plausible hypothesis requires at least three losses of flight and explains the many morphological and behavioral similarities among ratites by parallel or convergent evolution. Finally, this phylogeny demands fundamental reconsideration of proposals that relate ratite evolution to continental drift.convergence ͉ flightlessness ͉ Paleognath ͉ homoplasy ͉ vicariance biogeography

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The Utility of DNA Sequences of an Intron from the β-Fibrinogen Gene in Phylogenetic Analysis of Woodpeckers (Aves: Picidae)

Cited by 252 publications

References 28 publications

Resolution of a paradox: Hummingbird flight at high elevation does not come without a cost

Resolution of a paradox: Hummingbird flight at high elevation does not come without a cost

Molecular systematics of New World suboscine birds

Phylogenomic evidence for multiple losses of flight in ratite birds

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