The tempo of avian diversification during the Quaternary

• Published in: Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological sciences Vol. 359; no. 1442; pp. 215 - 220
• Main Authors: Zink, Robert M., Klicka, John, Barber, Brian R.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England The Royal Society 29.02.2004
• Subjects: Animals; Biological taxonomies; Birds; Birds - genetics; Divergent evolution; Diversification Rates; Evolution; Evolution, Molecular; Genetic Variation; Likelihood Functions; Log-Lineage Plots; Mitochondrial DNA; Modeling; Models, Genetic; Phylogeny; Population size; Quaternary; Simulated Phylogenies; Sister Taxa; Speciation; Species Specificity; Taxa
• ISSN: 0962-8436; 1471-2970
• DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2003.1392

It is generally assumed that the Quaternary was a period of heightened diversification in temperate vertebrate organisms. Previous molecular systematics studies have challenged this assertion. We re-examined this issue in north temperate birds using log-lineage plots and distributions of sister-taxon distances. Log-lineage plots support earlier conclusions that avian diversification slowed during the Quaternary. To test plots of empirical sister-taxon distances we simulated three sets of phylogenies: constant speciation and extinction, a pulse of recent speciation, and a pulse of recent extinction. Previous opinions favour the model of recent speciation although our empirical dataset on 74 avian comparisons failed to reject a distribution derived from the constant and extinction models. Hence, it does not appear that the Quaternary was a period of exceptional rates of diversification, relative to the background rate.