0000000000802342
AUTHOR
Andreas J. Helbig
Phylogeny and species limits in the Palaearctic chiffchaffPhylloscopus collybitacomplex: mitochondrial genetic differentiation and bioacoustic evidence*
Nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene (1041 bp), analysis of vocalizations and behavioural evidence from zones of contact were used to reassess the species limits and phylogenetic relationships at the species and subspecies levels in the Phylloscopus collybita complex. A new classification is proposed which recognizes four biological species. Phylloscopus brehmii (Iberia) and P. canariensis (Canary Islands) are genetically and bioacoustically highly distinct. There is no mitochondrial gene flow between them or with P. collybita. The Mountain Chiffchaff P. sindianus (with subspecies sindianus and Iorenzii) is equally distinct genetically from southwest Asian subspecies …
Weak phylogenetic effects on ecological niches of Sylvia warblers
To understand the evolution of ecological niches it is important to know whether niche evolution is constrained by phylogeny. We approached this question for Sylvia warblers by testing if closely related species are more similar in 20 ecologically relevant morphological traits than distantly related species. Phylogenetic relatedness was quantified using a molecular phylogeny based on the mitochondrial cytochrome b gene. By Principal Component Analysis (PCA) two major niche axes were extracted. We tested the individual ecomorphological traits and the positions of the species on the PCA axes for phylogenetic effects using Mantel tests. The results demonstrated small but significant phylogenet…