Completing the Speciation Cycle: Ecological Niches and Traits Predict Local Species Coexistence in Birds Across the Globe

IF 6.3 1区环境科学与生态学 Q1 ECOLOGY

Global Ecology and Biogeography Pub Date : 2025-01-30 DOI:10.1111/geb.70002

Vladimír Remeš, Lenka Harmáčková

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Aim

The build-up of local species diversity requires completing the transition from allopatry to sympatry to local coexistence (syntopy). However, understanding processes than enable species arising in allopatry to become syntopic remains an unsolved challenge. Potential explanations include niche conservatism, niche divergence, and energy availability. To gauge their importance, we modelled the effects of species split age, the divergence in beta and alpha niches, specialisation, and resource availability to reveal factors driving the evolution of local species coexistence upon speciation.

Location

Global.

Time Period

Miocene to the present.

Major Taxa Studied

Passerine birds.

Methods

We collated a dataset of 206 passerine sister species pairs, each with their age of divergence; range sympatry; degree of syntopy (derived from 7,257,312 complete eBird checklists falling within the area of range overlap); beta niche divergence (habitats and environmental characteristics); alpha niche divergence (morphology, diet, and foraging stratum); species ecological specialisation (diet and foraging stratum); resource availability; and body mass. We used phylogeny-informed models to infer which of these factors best explained local species coexistence upon speciation.

Results

There was a major effect of niche conservatism as species with more similar beta niches (canopy height, vegetation greenness, moisture availability, and habitat affinities) exhibited higher degree of syntopy. Small species with similarly sized beaks and high specialisation on diet were also more likely to coexist locally. In contrast, the divergence or overlap in alpha niches (diet and foraging stratum) did not predict the degree of syntopy. Confirming previous studies, the degree of syntopy strongly increased with increasing range sympatry, while only weakly in older species pairs.

Main Conclusions

The evolution of secondary syntopy is driven by niche conservatism, ecological specialisation, and body mass-related energy requirements. Consequently, the accumulation of local species richness is facilitated by both conservatism and differentiation along various ecological niche dimensions.

Abstract Image

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完成物种形成周期：生态位和特征预测全球鸟类的本地物种共存

目的本地物种多样性的建立需要完成从异域共生到同属共生再到本地共存（合型）的过渡。然而，了解使异源物种成为合源物种的过程仍然是一个未解决的挑战。潜在的解释包括生态位保守性、生态位分化和能源可用性。为了衡量它们的重要性，我们模拟了物种分裂年龄、β和α生态位的差异、专门化和资源可用性的影响，以揭示推动本地物种共存进化的因素。雀形目鸟类的主要分类群。方法整理了206对雀形目姐妹种的数据集，每对都有其分化年龄；同域分布范围;相似度（源自范围重叠区域内的7,257,312份完整的eBird清单）；β生态位分化（生境和环境特征）；α生态位分化（形态、饮食和觅食层）；物种生态特化（饮食和觅食层）；资源可用性;还有体重。我们使用系统发育模型来推断这些因素中哪一个最能解释物种形成时当地物种的共存。结果生态位保守性对生态位（冠层高度、植被绿度、水分有效性和生境亲和性）相似的物种具有较高的生态位亲和性。喙大小相似、饮食高度专门化的小物种也更有可能在当地共存。相比之下，α生态位（饮食层和觅食层）的分化或重叠并不能预测合型的程度。证实了先前的研究，随着范围同域的增加，共域度强烈增加，而在较老的物种对中仅弱。次生气候的进化是由生态位保守性、生态特化和体重相关的能量需求驱动的。因此，在不同的生态位维度上，保守性和分异性都有利于物种丰富度的积累。

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来源期刊

Global Ecology and Biogeography 环境科学-生态学

CiteScore

12.10

自引率

3.10%

发文量

170

审稿时长

3 months

期刊介绍： Global Ecology and Biogeography (GEB) welcomes papers that investigate broad-scale (in space, time and/or taxonomy), general patterns in the organization of ecological systems and assemblages, and the processes that underlie them. In particular, GEB welcomes studies that use macroecological methods, comparative analyses, meta-analyses, reviews, spatial analyses and modelling to arrive at general, conceptual conclusions. Studies in GEB need not be global in spatial extent, but the conclusions and implications of the study must be relevant to ecologists and biogeographers globally, rather than being limited to local areas, or specific taxa. Similarly, GEB is not limited to spatial studies; we are equally interested in the general patterns of nature through time, among taxa (e.g., body sizes, dispersal abilities), through the course of evolution, etc. Further, GEB welcomes papers that investigate general impacts of human activities on ecological systems in accordance with the above criteria.