Ecological niche differentiation in the Aphelocoma jays: a phylogenetic perspective

Publication Type:

Journal Article

Authors:

Rice, Nathan H.; Martínez-Meyer, Enrique; Peterson, A. Townsend

Source:

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, The Linnean Society of London, Volume 80, Issue 3, p.369–383 (2003)

Call Number:

A03RIC01IDUS

URL:

http://www.morg.atree.org/emm_bjls2003.pdf

Keywords:

Aphelocoma, Aphelocoma californica, Aphelocoma woodhouseii, ecological niche differentiation, jays, western scrub-jay

Abstract:

The Aphelocoma jays have become an important touchstone in behavioral ecology and biogeography—the corpus of studies of this genus makes it an important point of reference. Aphelocoma evolutionary history, nevertheless, has been the subject of two papers reaching opposite conclusions, even though they were based on the same allozyme data set. The authors of this article present a second molecular data set—500 bases of the ND2 gene—and analyze it cladistically to arrive at a new hypothesis of phylogenetic relationships. Recent hypotheses by other investigators of a hybrid origin of Aphelocoma populations are strongly contradicted. The ecological context within which these evolutionary processes are taking place is characterized using new tools for modelling ecological niches of species along a spectrum from humid tropical to dry temperate habitats. Evolutionary patterns of ecological niches are shown to consist of drastic departures from rate-uniformity and ecological niche conservatism.