Welcome to the American Ornithological Society 2018 Annual Conference. We are pleased to have you join us at the lovely Hilton El Conquistador Resort in Tucson, AZ.
We identify major genetic variation across the North American Towhees (Pipilo) jointly influenced by introgression, geographic isolation, and migratory strategy. This variation indicates an evolutionary history of acquired migratory and physiological adaptations that contributes to broad phenotypic diversity across the genus. We utilized ddRAD-Seq data from a broad geographic sample of individuals and analyzed phylogeny and population structure/introgression using maximum likelihood and Bayesian methods. These results, combined with demographic modeling and morphological analysis were used to assess the validity of transcontinental gene flow.
