Isolation by resistance explains genetic diversity in the Arremon brushfinches of northern Mesoamerica.

Genetic differentiation between and within natural populations is the result of the joint effects of neutral and adaptative processes. In addition, the spatial arrangement of the landscape promotes connectivity or creates barriers to gene flow, directly affecting speciation processes. In this study, we carried out a landscape genomics analysis using NextRAD data from a montane forest specialist bird complex, the Mesoamerican Chestnut-capped/Green-striped Brushfinch of the genus Arremon.

The tangled evolutionary history of a long-debated Mesoamerican taxon: The Velazquez Woodpecker (Melanerpes santacruzi, Aves: Picidae).

The Velazquez Woodpecker Melanerpes santacruzi is a highly polytypic species distributed from east-central Mexico to northern Nicaragua. The ample variation in body size, barring of the plumage, and the coloration of nasal tufts, neck, and belly have fueled debates about the taxonomy and evolutionary history of the species; however, the processes generating these patterns of variation and the underlying population dynamics throughout the species' distribution remain poorly understood. Here, we employed reduced representation genome sequencing (NextRAD) and Ecological Niche Modeling methods to test the distinctiveness of the Velazquez Woodpecker based on this new set of genomic data and analyze the correspondence of the genetic structure and ecological differentiation with phenotypic variation and geographic distribution.

RELICT HUMID TROPICAL FOREST IN MEXICO PROMOTES DIFFERENTIATION IN BARRED WOODCREEPERS Dendrocolaptes (AVES: FURNARIIDAE).

Humid tropical forests in Mesoamerica are distributed along the Atlantic slope and, in scattered locations, along the Mexican Pacific slope. These poorly explored Mexican forests include microendemic bird species. Two species in the genus Dendrocolaptes occur in lowland and foothill humid tropical forests of Mesoamerica.

The geography of evolutionary divergence in the highly endemic avifauna from the Sierra Madre del Sur, Mexico.

Background: Mesoamerica is a remarkable region with a high geological and ecological complexity. Within northern Mesoamerica, the biotic province of the Sierra Madre del Sur (SMS) in southwestern Mexico harbors exceptionally high avian endemism and diversity. Herein, we searched for spatially and temporally concordant phylogeographic patterns, in four bird genera from three distinct avian orders co-distributed across Mesoamerica and investigated their causes through hypothesis testing regarding historical processes.

Influence of phylogenetic structure and climate gradients on geographical variation in the morphology of Mexican flycatcher forests assemblages (Aves: Tyrannidae).

Morphological variation is strongly related to variation in the ecological characteristics and evolutionary history of each taxon. To explore how geographical variation in morphology is related to different climatic gradients and phylogenetic structure, we analyzed the variation of morphological traits (body size, bill, and wing) of 64 species of tyrant flycatchers (Tyrannidae) distributed in Mexico. We measured these morphological traits in specimens from biological collections and related them to the climatic and topographic data of each collection locality.

Distributional patterns of Neotropical seasonally dry forest birds: a biogeographical regionalization.

Neotropical seasonally dry forests (NSDFs) are widely distributed and possess high levels of species richness and endemism; however, their biogeography remains only partially understood. Using species distribution modelling and parsimony analysis of endemicity, we analysed the distributional patterns of the NSDF avifauna in order to identify their areas of endemism and provide a better understanding of the historical relationships among those areas. The strict consensus trees revealed 17 areas of endemism for NSDFs, which involve four large regions: Baja California, Caribbean-Antilles islands, Mesoamerica and South America.

Environmental heterogeneity explains coarse-scale β-diversity of terrestrial vertebrates in Mexico.

We explored the hypothesis that high β-diversity of terrestrial vertebrates of Mexico is associated with a high environmental heterogeneity (HEH) and identify the drivers of β-diversity at different spatial scales. We used distribution range maps of 2,513 species of amphibians, reptiles, mammals, and birds occurring in Mexico. We estimated β-diversity for each taxon at four spatial scales (grid cells of 2°, 1°, 0.

Phylogeography indicates incomplete genetic divergence among phenotypically differentiated montane forest populations of (Aves, Passerellidae).

The White-naped Brushfinch () comprises up to eight allopatric subspecies mainly identified by the color of the underparts (gray vs. yellow belly). Yellow and gray bellied forms were long considered two different species ( and ), but they are presently considered as one polytypic species.

Hidden endemism, deep polyphyly, and repeated dispersal across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec: Diversification of the White-collared Seedeater complex (Thraupidae: ).

Phenotypic and genetic variation are present in all species, but lineages differ in how variation is partitioned among populations. Examining phenotypic clustering and genetic structure within a phylogeographic framework can clarify which biological processes have contributed to extant biodiversity in a given lineage. Here, we investigate genetic and phenotypic variation among populations and subspecies within a Neotropical songbird complex, the White-collared Seedeater () of Central America and Mexico.

Complex biogeographic scenarios revealed in the diversification of the largest woodpecker radiation in the New World.

Phylogenetic relationships and patterns of evolution within Melanerpes, one of the most diverse groups of New World woodpeckers (22-23 lineages), have been complicated due to complex plumages and morphological adaptations. In an attempt to resolve these issues, we obtained sequence data from four nuclear introns and two mitochondrial protein-coding genes for 22 of the 24 currently recognized species in the genus. We performed phylogenetic analyses involving Maximum Likelihood and Bayesian Inference, species-tree divergence dating, and biogeographic reconstructions.

Rapid postglacial diversification and long-term stasis within the songbird genus Junco: phylogeographic and phylogenomic evidence.

Natural systems composed of closely related taxa that vary in the degree of phenotypic divergence and geographic isolation provide an opportunity to investigate the rate of phenotypic diversification and the relative roles of selection and drift in driving lineage formation. The genus Junco (Aves: Emberizidae) of North America includes parapatric northern forms that are markedly divergent in plumage pattern and colour, in contrast to geographically isolated southern populations in remote areas that show moderate phenotypic divergence. Here, we quantify patterns of phenotypic divergence in morphology and plumage colour and use mitochondrial DNA genes, a nuclear intron, and genomewide SNPs to reconstruct the demographic and evolutionary history of the genus to infer relative rates of evolutionary divergence among lineages.

Digital Accessible Knowledge and well-inventoried sites for birds in Mexico: baseline sites for measuring faunistic change.

Background: Faunal change is a basic and fundamental element in ecology, biogeography, and conservation biology, yet vanishingly few detailed studies have documented such changes rigorously over decadal time scales. This study responds to that gap in knowledge, providing a detailed analysis of Digital Accessible Knowledge of the birds of Mexico, designed to marshal DAK to identify sites that were sampled and inventoried rigorously prior to the beginning of major global climate change (1980).

Methods: We accumulated DAK records for Mexican birds from all relevant online biodiversity data portals.

Assumption-versus data-based approaches to summarizing species' ranges.

For conservation decision making, species' geographic distributions are mapped using various approaches. Some such efforts have downscaled versions of coarse-resolution extent-of-occurrence maps to fine resolutions for conservation planning. We examined the quality of the extent-of-occurrence maps as range summaries and the utility of refining those maps into fine-resolution distributional hypotheses.

Assessing migration patterns in Passerina ciris using the world's bird collections as an aggregated resource.

Natural history museum collections (NHCs) represent a rich and largely untapped source of data on demography and population movements. NHC specimen records can be corrected to a crude measure of collecting effort and reflect relative population densities with a method known as abundance indices. We plotted abundance index values from georeferenced NHC data in a 12-month series for the new world migratory passerine Passerina ciris across its molting and wintering range in Mexico and Central America.

Phylogenetic and morphologic evidence confirm the presence of a new montane cloud forest associated bird species in Mexico, the Mountain Elaenia (Elaenia frantzii; Aves: Passeriformes: Tyrannidae).

Here we provide evidence to support an extension of the recognized distributional range of the Mountain Elaenia (Elaenia frantzii) to include southern Mexico. We collected two specimens in breeding condition in northwestern Sierra Norte de Chiapas, Mexico. Morphologic and genetic evidence support their identity as Elaenia frantzii.

Genetic differentiation in the Mexican endemic Rufous-backed Robin, Turdus rufopalliatus (Passeriformes: Turdidae).

The Rufous-backed Robin (Turdus rufopalliatus) is endemic to deciduous and semideciduous tropical forests of western Mexico. Of the currently recognized subspecies, T. r.

Twentieth century turnover of Mexican endemic avifaunas: Landscape change versus climate drivers.

Numerous climate change effects on biodiversity have been anticipated and documented, including extinctions, range shifts, phenological shifts, and breakdown of interactions in ecological communities, yet the relative balance of different climate drivers and their relationships to other agents of global change (for example, land use and land-use change) remains relatively poorly understood. This study integrated historical and current biodiversity data on distributions of 115 Mexican endemic bird species to document areas of concentrated gains and losses of species in local communities, and then related those changes to climate and land-use drivers. Of all drivers examined, at this relatively coarse spatial resolution, only temperature change had significant impacts on avifaunal turnover; neither precipitation change nor human impact on landscapes had detectable effects.

Response of the endangered tropical dry forests to climate change and the role of Mexican Protected Areas for their conservation.

Assuming that co-distributed species are exposed to similar environmental conditions, ecological niche models (ENMs) of bird and plant species inhabiting tropical dry forests (TDFs) in Mexico were developed to evaluate future projections of their distribution for the years 2050 and 2070. We used ENM-based predictions and climatic data for two Global Climate Models, considering two Representative Concentration Pathway scenarios (RCP4.5/RCP8.

Irrigation and avifaunal change in coastal Northwest Mexico: has irrigated habit attracted threatened migratory species?

Irrigation in desert ecosystems can either reduce or increase species diversity. Groundwater pumping often lowers water tables and reduces natural wetlands, whereas canal irrigation often creates mesic habitat, resulting in great increases in avian diversity from irrigation. Here we compare a dataset of potential natural vegetation to recent datasets from areal and satellite imagery to show that 60% of the land in the coastal plain of southern Sonora and northern Sinaloa lying below 200 m elevation has been converted by irrigation to more mesic habitats.

Geographic isolation drives divergence of uncorrelated genetic and song variation in the Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush (Catharus frantzii; Aves: Turdidae).

Montane barriers influence the evolutionary history of lineages by promoting isolation of populations. The effects of these historical processes are evident in patterns of differentiation among extant populations, which are often expressed as genetic and behavioral variation between populations. We investigated the effects of geographic barriers on the evolutionary history of a Mesoamerican bird by studying patterns of genetic and vocal variation in the Ruddy-capped Nightingale-Thrush (Turdidae: Catharus frantzii), a non-migratory oscine bird that inhabits montane forests from central Mexico to Panama.

CracidMex1: a comprehensive database of global occurrences of cracids (Aves, Galliformes) with distribution in Mexico.

Cracids are among the most vulnerable groups of Neotropical birds. Almost half of the species of this family are included in a conservation risk category. Twelve taxa occur in Mexico, six of which are considered at risk at national level and two are globally endangered.

Multilocus analysis of intraspecific differentiation in three endemic bird species from the northern Neotropical dry forest.

Among-species phylogeographic concordance provides insight into the common processes driving lineage divergence in a particular region. However, identifying the processes that caused phylogeographic breaks is not always straight forward, and inferring past environmental conditions in combination with documented geologic events is sometimes necessary to explain current patterns. We searched for concordant phylogeographic patterns and investigated their causes in three bird species (Momotus mexicanus, Melanerpes chrysogenys, and Passerina leclancherii) that belong to three different avian orders and are endemic to the northernmost range of the Neotropical dry forest.

Evolutionary diversification and speciation in rodents of the Mexican lowlands: the Peromyscus melanophrys species group.

Despite some studies of the species groups within the genus Peromyscus have been performed, both evolutionary relationships among species within groups and group composition have remained controversial. In this study, we address phylogenetic relationships among species in the Peromyscus melanophrys group (P. melanophrys, P.