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.
Biologists have long been interested in characterizing the tropical regions of the world as "cradles" or "museums" in terms of their ability to create and structure genetic diversity across a variety of species. This has certainly been true for avian species within the Guineo-Congolian forests of tropical Africa. Over the past three decades, these forests were first described via morphology as centers of avian diversification (“cradle”) and followed by their classification via molecular data as evolutionarily stagnant (“museum”). Using a two-part molecular data set composed of 1) intensive sampling from three forest genera (Bleda, Criniger, and Sylvietta) and 2) widespread, shallower sampling from 75 species, we investigate the structure of genetic diversity across these species as well as the potential drivers for its creation and maintenance. We recover both extensive and deep genetic structuring for many species across the Guineo-Congolian forests and shallow structuring for many others. Our data, both spatial and temporal, supports multiple bouts of Plio-Pleistocene landscape fragmentation as a major mechanism for creating the structure and depth of genetic diversity patterns. Additionally, behavioral characters regarding dispersal ability proved to be crucial regarding the depth and discreteness of genetic spatial patterns. Ultimately, we conclude that the Guineo-Congolian forests have acted as both “cradles” and “museums” across our sampled species.
