AnnaPhillipsSenckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F)

AnnaPhillipsassociatedPartySusanneFritzCo-ownerKatrinBöhning-GaeseCo-owner2018-03-28Aim: Closely related species are often morphologically similar due to their shared evolutionary history. This similarity can restrict their geographic distribution, as processes such as interspecific competition might prevent species from co-occurring if they resemble each other too closely. There is still little understanding of the relative strengths of such phylogenetic and geographic effects on the morphological diversity of species within a clade. Here, we compare phylogenetic effects with geographic effects across multiple clades of passerine birds to understand the roles of evolutionary history and geographic patterns on the ecomorphological characteristics of species. Location: Global Methods: We combine phylogenetic and geographic approaches to investigate and compare their effects on patterns of ecomorphological distinctness, i.e. the relative position of species in multidimensional ecomorphological trait space. The trait space was based on measurements from preserved specimens, representing ecologically relevant morphological adaptations across almost 500 species in eight clades of the order Passeriformes. Results: Ecomorphological distinctness increased with phylogenetic distance across species in all clades, whereas there was no significant relationship between geographic and ecomorphological distinctness in any clade. However, we observed a significant interaction between phylogenetic and geographic effects on ecomorphological distinctness. Closely related species were ecomorphologically indistinct if in geographic proximity, while at large geographic distances, there was no relationship between phylogenetic and ecomorphological distinctness. Main conclusions: We conclude that phylogenetic relationships are influential in shaping ecomorphological traits in passerine bird clades, but that this effect depends on the geographic distributions of species. Closely related species were only ecomorphologically similar when geographically close, suggesting a signal of allopatric speciation. Our results imply that studies identifying phylogenetic effects in species’ traits should not focus exclusively on these but instead evaluate the interaction of phylogenetic effects with geographic effects. ecomorphological divergencegeographic distributionmorphological adaptationspasseriformesphylogenetic signaltrait evolutionObtain permission from data set owner(s)Global-180.0180.090.0-90.02014-11-01The following clades were chosen across the order of passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes) based on morphological diversity, high phylogenetic resolution, and a similar species richness in each clade: Cardinalidae, Parulidae (Setophaga-Myiothlypis clade), Tyrannidae (Xolmiini clade), Muscicapidae (Oenanthe-Monticola clade), Turdidae (genus Turdus), Hirundinidae, Vireonidae, Corvidae (genus Corvus). Species names follow IOC taxonomy v 5.01.FamilyCardinalidaeFamilyParulidae (Setophaga-Myiothlypis clade)FamilyTyrannidae (Xolmiini clade)FamilyMuscicapidae (Oenanthe-Monticola clade)FamilyTurdidae (genus Turdus)FamilyHirundinidaeFamilyVireonidaeFamilyCorvidae (genus Corvus)SusanneFritzSenckenberg Biodiversity and Climate Research Centre (SBiK-F)

Senckenberganlage 25Frankfurt am Main60325Germany

susanne.fritz@senckenberg.de

Eight monophyletic clades across the order of passerine birds were selected to test the effects of the phylogenetic relationships and geographic distributions of species on their ecomorphological distinctness. We selected clades of different ages and varying geographic distributions from different parts of the passerine tree (Cardinalidae, Parulidae: Setophaga-Myiothlypis clade, Muscicapidae: Oenanthe-Monticola clade, Turdidae: genus Turdus, Hirundinidae, Vireonidae, Corvidae: genus Corvus, and Tyrannidae: Xolmiini clade). Species names follow IOC taxonomy v. 5.01. We measured morphological traits of 2,465 preserved specimens belonging to 491 species of the total 526 species described in the eight clades from four museum collections (ZFMK: Zoologisches Forschungsmuseum Alexander Koenig, Bonn, Germany; ZMUC: Statens Naturhistoriske Museum, Zoologisk Museum, Copenhagen, Denmark; NHMT: Natural History Museum, Tring, United Kingdom; NMVM: Museum Victoria, Melbourne, Australia). We only took trait data from adult individuals and aimed to measure two females and two males of each species. The methodology largely followed Eck et al. (2011) except for bill dimensions. Bill length was defined as the distance from the commissural points, which is functionally equivalent to gape width (cf. Wheelwright, 1985). Bill height was measured at the transition to the skull. Wing length was taken from the carpal joint to the tip of the wing (“maximum chord” method: wing was slightly stretched and flattened against the ruler). Kipp’s distance was measured as the distance from the tip of the first secondary to the tip of the longest primary feather in the naturally folded wing; tail length was the distance from the point between the two innermost rectrices where their bases emerge from the skin to the tip of the longest tail feather in the naturally folded tail. Tarsus length was taken between the back of the intertarsal joint and the lower front edge of the last undivided scale before the toes diverge; sagittal and lateral tarsus diameters were taken at the middle of the tarsus. All measurement data was recorded in millimetres (mm). Morphological measurement data was mostly collected by A.G. Phillips (AP), additional measurements were collected by assistants L. Nowak (LN), and D. Hanz (DH).

Measurement Data.xlsxMeasurement Data.xlsx458070XLSXhttps://dataportal.senckenberg.de/dataset/9e17c976-2499-4a7b-9c83-ac3b709512e9/resource/b39fc1b9-dd90-4117-927c-418b2ff39352/download/measurement-data.xlsxOtherattached_fileNot authorized to access resourceOther timeseries Start of PhD project other