Anthropogenic rapid warming has caused decreases in richness and body mass of birds following the metabolic theory of ecology; yet, the pervasiveness of these shifts remains controversial among different taxa. Here, by combining phylogenetic methods and fossil data, we synthesized spatial patterns of richness and body mass for 328 seabird species belonging to two groups: Procellariimorphae (PM) and non-Procellariimorphae (NPM). We found that the relationship between body mass and richness, as well as diversification rate, exhibits distinct patterns in these two groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe beak, a pivotal evolutionary trait characterized by high morphological diversity and plasticity, has enabled birds to survive mass extinction events and subsequently radiate into diverse ecological niches worldwide. This remarkable ecological adaptability underscores the importance of uncovering the molecular mechanisms shaping avian beak morphology, particularly benefiting from the rapidly advancing archives of genomics and epigenomics. We review the latest advancements in understanding how genetic and epigenetic innovations control or regulate beak development and drive beak morphological adaptation and diversification over the past two decades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn group-living animals, chronic juvenile social isolation stress (SIS) can profoundly affect behavior and neuroendocrine regulation. However, its impact on social behavior in avian species, particularly regarding sex-specific neural circuit differences, remains underexplored. This study focused on zebra finches, a species known for its social clustering and cognitive abilities, to elucidate these influences.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA secondary contact zone (SCZ) is an area where incipient species or divergent populations may meet, mate, and hybridize. Due to the diverse patterns of interspecific hybridization, SCZs function as field labs for illuminating the on-going evolutionary processes of speciation and the establishment of reproductive isolation. Interspecific hybridization is widely present in avian populations, making them an ideal system for SCZ studies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Small songbirds respond and adapt to various geographical barriers during their annual migration. Global flyways reveal the diverse migration strategies in response to different geographical barriers, among which are high-elevation plateaus. However, few studies have been focused on the largest and highest plateau in the world, the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) which poses a significant barrier to migratory passerines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIsland vertebrates have evolved a number of morphological, physiological, and life history characteristics that set them apart from their mainland relatives. However, to date, the evolution of metabolism and its impact on the vulnerability to extinction of insular vertebrates remains poorly understood. This study used metabolic data from 2813 species of tetrapod vertebrates, including 695 ectothermic and 2118 endothermic species, to reveal that island mammals and birds evolved convergent metabolic strategies toward a slow pace of life.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHistorical specimens from museum collections provide a valuable source of material also from remote areas or regions of conflict that are not easily accessible to scientists today. With this study, we are providing a taxon-complete phylogeny of snowfinches using historical DNA from whole skins of an endemic species from Afghanistan, the Afghan snowfinch, Pyrgilauda theresae. To resolve the strong conflict between previous phylogenetic hypotheses, we generated novel mitogenome sequences for selected taxa and genome-wide SNP data using ddRAD sequencing for all extant snowfinch species endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) and for an extended intraspecific sampling of the sole Central and Western Palearctic snowfinch species (Montifringilla nivalis).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEndotherms recently expanding to cold environments generally exhibit strong physiological acclimation to sustain high body temperature. During this process, gut microbes likely play a considerable role in host physiological functions, including digestion and thermogenesis. The light-vented bulbul represents one such species.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPhenotypic plasticity facilitates organismal invasion of novel environments, and the resultant phenotypic change may later be modified by genetic change, so called 'plasticity first.' Herein, we quantify gene expression plasticity and regulatory adaptation in a wild bird (Eurasian Tree Sparrow) from its original lowland (ancestral stage), experimentally implemented hypoxia acclimation (plastic stage), and colonized highland (colonized stage). Using a group of co-expressed genes from the cardiac and flight muscles, respectively, we demonstrate that gene expression plasticity to hypoxia tolerance is more often reversed than reinforced at the colonized stage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Resolving the phylogeny of rapidly radiating lineages presents a challenge when building the Tree of Life. An Old World avian family Prunellidae (Accentors) comprises twelve species that rapidly diversified at the Pliocene-Pleistocene boundary.
Results: Here we investigate the phylogenetic relationships of all species of Prunellidae using a chromosome-level de novo assembly of Prunella strophiata and 36 high-coverage resequenced genomes.
Mountains are the world's most important centers of biodiversity. The Sino-Himalayan Mountains are global biodiversity hotspot due to their extremely high species richness and endemicity. Ample research investigated the impact of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau uplift and Quaternary glaciations in driving species diversification in plants and animals across the Sino-Himalayan Mountains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDifferent genomic regions may reflect conflicting phylogenetic topologies primarily due to incomplete lineage sorting and/or gene flow. Genomic data are necessary to reconstruct the true species tree and explore potential causes of phylogenetic conflict. Here, we investigate the phylogenetic relationships of 4 Emberiza species (Aves: Emberizidae) and discuss the potential causes of the observed mitochondrial non-monophyly of Emberiza godlewskii (Godlewski's bunting) using phylogenomic analyses based on whole genome resequencing data from 41 birds.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInstances of parallel phenotypic evolution offer great opportunities to understand the evolutionary processes underlying phenotypic changes. However, confirming parallel phenotypic evolution and studying its causes requires a robust phylogenetic framework. One such example is the "black-and-white wagtails," a group of 5 species in the songbird genus Motacilla: 1 species, Motacilla alba, shows wide intra-specific plumage variation, while the 4r others form 2 pairs of very similar-looking species (M.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSpeciation is fundamental for building and maintaining biodiversity. The formation of the highly differentiated genomic regions between diverging taxa has been interpreted as a result of divergence with gene flow, linked selection, and reduction in recombination. It is challenging to unravel these nonexclusive processes in shaping genomic divergence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEarly events in the evolution of an ancestral lineage can shape the adaptive patterns of descendant species, but the evolutionary mechanisms driving initial adaptation from an ancestor remain largely unexplored. High-altitude adaptations have been extensively explored from the viewpoint of protein-coding genes; however, the contribution of noncoding regions remains relatively neglected. Here, we integrate genomic and transcriptomic data to investigate adaptive evolution in the ancestor of three high-altitude snowfinch species endemic to the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFProc Natl Acad Sci U S A
February 2023
Since Darwin's time, elucidating the mechanism of adaptive evolution has been one of the most important scientific issues in evolutionary biology and ecology. Adaptive evolution usually means that species evolve special phenotypic traits to increase fitness under selective pressures. Phenotypic adaptation can be observed at different hierarchical levels of morphology, physiology, biochemistry, histology, and behavior.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe seasonal migration of birds is a fascinating natural wonder. Avian migratory behaviour changes are common and are probably a polygenic process as avian migration is governed by multiple correlated components with a variable genetic basis. However, the genetic and phenotypic changes involving migration changes are poorly studied.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnimals can expand distributions in response to climatic and environmental changes, but the potential expansive ability of a source population is rarely evaluated using designed experiments. Group foraging can increase survival in new environments, but it also increases intraspecific competition. The trade-off between benefit and conflict needs to be determined.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Tibetan Partridge (Perdix hodgsoniae) is an endemic species distributed in high-altitude areas of 3600-5600 m on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. To explore how the species is adapted to the high elevation environment, we assembled a draft genome based on both the Illumina and PacBio sequencing platforms with its population genetics and genomics analysis. In total, 134.
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