DECIPHERING THE EVOLUTIONARY HISTORY OF THE MONTANE NEW GUINEA AVIFAUNA: COMPARATIVE PHYLOGEOGRAPHY AND INSIGHTS FROM PALEODISTRIBUTIONAL MODELING IN A DYNAMIC LANDSCAPE

Integrating comparative phylogeographic methods with taxon-specific paleodistributional modeling provides a powerful approach for assessing historical environmental factors that have contributed to patterns of population genetic structure and species formation. Herein, I reconcile spatial analyses of genetic diversity with contemporary and paleoecological niche reconstructions in four co-distributed montane passerines to examine how Pleistocene climate change and topographic relief have influenced avian diversification across the New Guinea highlands. Phylogeographic analyses revealed substantial disparity in the distribution of genetic diversity among focal taxa, with Peneothello cyanus and Crateroscelis robusta exhibiting deep divergences along the Strickland River Valley, whereas Rhipidura atra and Amblyornis macgregoriae displayed evidence of gene flow and shallow genetic structure across this biogeographic boundary. Patterns of population genetic structure in P. cyanus and C. robusta were largely congruent with the distribution of contemporary sky-islands and historical population connectivity inferred from Last Glacial Maximum ecological niche reconstructions; however, Mantel tests indicate an isolation-by-distance effect has also impacted the distribution of genetic diversity in each of these taxa. By contrast, R. atra and A. macgregoriae exhibited weak geographic structure and indications of admixture or ancestral polymorphism among most sky-island populations, yet have maintained highly divergent lineages in the Vogelkop and Huon Peninsula, respectively. Signatures of demographic expansion were observed across each species complex, corroborating elevational shifts and range expansion predicted by Last Glacial Maximum ecological niche models. Although differences in dispersal capacity may have contributed to the discordant evolutionary histories among these taxa, limitations of the mtDNA data set preclude assessing the impact of stochastic or selective processes with confidence. This investigation yields novel insight into the evolutionary dynamics that have shaped patterns of avian diversification and historical demography across the New Guinea highlands. Moreover, the phylogenetic relationships recovered within these geographically structured lineages have important implications for understanding the evolution of phenotypic traits, redefining species limits, and clarifying areas of endemism--knowledge critical to guiding future biodiversity investigation and developing informed conservation policies across the region

Global Invasive Potential of 10 Parasitic Witchweeds and Related Orobanchaceae

The plant family Orobanchaceae includes many parasitic weeds that are also impressive invaders and aggressive crop pests with several specialized features (e.g. microscopic seeds, parasitic habits). Although they have provoked several large-scale eradication and control efforts, no global evaluation of their invasive potential is as yet available. We use tools from ecological niche modeling in combination with occurrence records from herbarium specimens to evaluate the global invasive potential of each of 10 species in this assemblage, representing several of the worst global invaders. The invasive potential of these species is considerable, with all tropical and subtropical countries, and most temperate countries, vulnerable to invasions by one or more of them.I do not have complete information on funding. The work was probably supported by a Department of Defense (USA) grant to Town Peterson. RAJW was supported by US National Science Foundation (Ref: KUCR 31000)

River-Based Surveys for Assessing Riparian Bird Populations: Cerulean Warbler as a Test Case

This is the published version. Copyright Eagle Hill InstituteBirds concentrated in riparian habitats are poorly sampled by traditional survey methods because of the difficulties associated with accessing these habitats. Our objectives were to test the effectiveness of river-based surveys to determine the status, distribution, and relative abundance for riparian bird species in Missouri and northern Arkansas, with special emphasis on Dendroica cerulea (Cerulean Warbler). Our canoe-based surveys revealed an average of 2.3 and 0.8 singing male Cerulean Warblers/river km along the Current River (128 river km surveyed), MO, and the Buffalo National River (96 river km), AR. Nonparametric estimates for repeated surveys of the same river stretches indicate that 69–79% of singing male Cerulean Warblers were detected. However, the bias associated with the estimate methodology and independent song rate data suggest those are conservative estimates. In comparison with land-based point-counts, this river-based protocol offers a quick and efficient assessment of Cerulean Warblers in riparian areas

Tectonic collision and uplift of Wallacea triggered the global songbird radiation

Songbirds (oscine passerines) are the most species-rich and cosmopolitan bird group, comprising almost half of global avian diversity. Songbirds originated in Australia, but the evolutionary trajectory from a single species in an isolated continent to worldwide proliferation is poorly understood. Here, we combine the first comprehensive genome-scale DNA sequence data set for songbirds, fossil-based time calibrations, and geologically informed biogeographic reconstructions to provide a well-supported evolutionary hypothesis for the group. We show that songbird diversification began in the Oligocene, but accelerated in the early Miocene, at approximately half the age of most previous estimates. This burst of diversification occurred coincident with extensive island formation in Wallacea, which provided the first dispersal corridor out of Australia, and resulted in independent waves of songbird expansion through Asia to the rest of the globe. Our results reconcile songbird evolution with Earth history and link a major radiation of terrestrial biodiversity to early diversification within an isolated Australian continent

Highly Pathogenic H5N1 Avian Influenza: Entry Pathways into North America via Bird Migration

Given the possibility of highly pathogenic H5N1 avian influenza arriving in North America and monitoring programs that have been established to detect and track it, we review intercontinental movements of birds. We divided 157 bird species showing regular intercontinental movements into four groups based on patterns of movement—one of these groups (breed Holarctic, winter Eurasia) fits well with the design of the monitoring programs (i.e., western Alaska), but the other groups have quite different movement patterns, which would suggest the importance of H5N1 monitoring along the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts of North America

Earth history and the passerine superradiation.

Avian diversification has been influenced by global climate change, plate tectonic movements, and mass extinction events. However, the impact of these factors on the diversification of the hyperdiverse perching birds (passerines) is unclear because family level relationships are unresolved and the timing of splitting events among lineages is uncertain. We analyzed DNA data from 4,060 nuclear loci and 137 passerine families using concatenation and coalescent approaches to infer a comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis that clarifies relationships among all passerine families. Then, we calibrated this phylogeny using 13 fossils to examine the effects of different events in Earth history on the timing and rate of passerine diversification. Our analyses reconcile passerine diversification with the fossil and geological records; suggest that passerines originated on the Australian landmass ∼47 Ma; and show that subsequent dispersal and diversification of passerines was affected by a number of climatological and geological events, such as Oligocene glaciation and inundation of the New Zealand landmass. Although passerine diversification rates fluctuated throughout the Cenozoic, we find no link between the rate of passerine diversification and Cenozoic global temperature, and our analyses show that the increases in passerine diversification rate we observe are disconnected from the colonization of new continents. Taken together, these results suggest more complex mechanisms than temperature change or ecological opportunity have controlled macroscale patterns of passerine speciation

TOI-836 : a super-Earth and mini-Neptune transiting a nearby K-dwarf

Funding: TGW, ACC, and KH acknowledge support from STFC consolidated grant numbers ST/R000824/1 and ST/V000861/1, and UKSA grant ST/R003203/1.We present the discovery of two exoplanets transiting TOI-836 (TIC 440887364) using data from TESS Sector 11 and Sector 38. TOI-836 is a bright (T = 8.5 mag), high proper motion (∼200 mas yr−1), low metallicity ([Fe/H]≈−0.28) K-dwarf with a mass of 0.68 ± 0.05 M⊙ and a radius of 0.67 ± 0.01 R⊙. We obtain photometric follow-up observations with a variety of facilities, and we use these data-sets to determine that the inner planet, TOI-836 b, is a 1.70 ± 0.07 R⊕ super-Earth in a 3.82 day orbit, placing it directly within the so-called ‘radius valley’. The outer planet, TOI-836 c, is a 2.59 ± 0.09 R⊕ mini-Neptune in an 8.60 day orbit. Radial velocity measurements reveal that TOI-836 b has a mass of 4.5 ± 0.9 M⊕, while TOI-836 c has a mass of 9.6 ± 2.6 M⊕. Photometric observations show Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) on the order of 20 minutes for TOI-836 c, although there are no detectable TTVs for TOI-836 b. The TTVs of planet TOI-836 c may be caused by an undetected exterior planet.Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

TOI-836: A super-Earth and mini-Neptune transiting a nearby K-dwarf

We present the discovery of two exoplanets transiting TOI-836 (TIC 440887364) using data from TESS Sector 11 and Sector 38. TOI-836 is a bright ($T = 8.5$ mag), high proper motion ($\sim\,200$ mas yr$^{-1}$), low metallicity ([Fe/H]$\approx\,-0.28$) K-dwarf with a mass of $0.68\pm0.05$ M$_{\odot}$ and a radius of $0.67\pm0.01$ R$_{\odot}$. We obtain photometric follow-up observations with a variety of facilities, and we use these data-sets to determine that the inner planet, TOI-836 b, is a $1.70\pm0.07$ R$_{\oplus}$ super-Earth in a 3.82 day orbit, placing it directly within the so-called 'radius valley'. The outer planet, TOI-836 c, is a $2.59\pm0.09$ R$_{\oplus}$ mini-Neptune in an 8.60 day orbit. Radial velocity measurements reveal that TOI-836 b has a mass of $4.5\pm0.9$ M$_{\oplus}$ , while TOI-836 c has a mass of $9.6\pm2.6$ M$_{\oplus}$. Photometric observations show Transit Timing Variations (TTVs) on the order of 20 minutes for TOI-836 c, although there are no detectable TTVs for TOI-836 b. The TTVs of planet TOI-836 c may be caused by an undetected exterior planet

TOI-836: A super-Earth and mini-Neptune transiting a nearby K-dwarf

peer reviewe

Late Summer Ornithological Inventories of Mt. Shunhuang and Mt. Dawei in Hunan,China

We inventoried the avifauna of two nature reserves in Hunan Province,China,from 21 August to 14 September 2002,recording 58 species at Shunhuang Shan Nature Reserve in southwest Hunan,and 43 species at Dawei Shan Nature Reserve in northeast Hunan. A voucher collection of 186 specimens representing 51 bird species was deposited at the University of Kansas Natural History Museum and Biodiversity Research Center,with photographs documenting an additional 8 taxa. Most taxa had recently completed breeding,and 14 species of Palearctic migrants used the study sites as stopover areas or wintering grounds. We report range or elevational extensions for Grey-chinned Minivet (Pericrocotus solaris   ),Little Forktail (Enicurus scouleri   ),and Spotted Forktail (Enicurus maculatus   )