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From clustering to overdispersion: a north to south gradient in the patterns of phylogenetic structure in North American hummingbird assemblages

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Abstract

Hummingbirds are a highly specialized bird group whose species assemblages may show differential patterns of phylogenetic and phenotypic diversification, largely driven by ecological and geographical factors, as well as by mutualistic interactions with plants. Here, based on a molecular phylogenetic tree of hummingbirds and 11 morphological traits, we estimated phylogenetic and phenotypic structure at the scale of biogeographic (Nearctic, Transitional, and Neotropical) and 105 ecoregions across North America. Since some species are migratory, we discriminated between breeding and winter species assemblages and performed a paired t test to determine if there are significant differences in the assemblages’ structure between regions and seasons. We also performed linear models (LM) to determine the relationship of phylogenetic and phenotypic structure patterns with species richness, phylogenetic diversity, and proportion of species in clades with high diversification rates. Phylogenetic and phenotypic structure results ranged from clustered in Nearctic and some Transition ecoregions, to random in Transition and most Neotropical ecoregions, to overdispersion in two Neotropical ecoregions. Winter assemblages showed significant shifts in phylogenetic or phenotypic structure from resident assemblages in Transition and Neotropical ecoregions but showed a significant shift in phenotypic structure in Nearctic ecoregions. LMs showed that species richness and phylogenetic diversity presented negative and positive relationships with phylogenetic and phenotypic structure measures in both seasons. Our results suggest that the assembly process of North American hummingbird communities has been influenced by filtering, competition, and mutualism processes largely determined by the species pool available at different biogeographic regions.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the first author on reasonable request. Morphological data were obtained from specimens at the Colección Nacional de Aves, Instituto de Biología-UNAM, and at the Museo de Zoología “Alfonso L. Herrera,” Facultad de Ciencias-UNAM.

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Acknowledgements

This paper is submitted as a partial fulfillment of requirements for AP-C to obtain a Ph. D degree in the Posgrado en Ciencias Biológicas of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). AP-C received support through a PhD´s scholarship (545420) from CONACyT. We are greatly indebted to Dr. Jimmy A. McGuire for facilitating us the Trochilidae phylogenetic tree. We appreciate the support of the curators and collection managers at the Colección Nacional de Aves, Instituto de Biología-UNAM, and the Museo de Zoología “Alfonso L. Herrera,” Facultad de Ciencias-UNAM for allowing us to use hummingbird specimens under their care. We thank Dr. Andreas Wanninger and one anonymous reviewer for thoughtful comments that greatly improved our manuscript. We sincerely thank Dr. Lynna M. Kiere for reviewing our manuscript and for the English revision of our paper.

Funding

This paper received support from a PhD´s scholarship (545420) from CONACyT to AP-C.

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AP-C and LAS-G conceived and designed the study; AP-C collected, analyzed the data, and wrote the manuscript; LAS-G supervised, edited, and wrote the manuscript. All authors discussed the results, contributed, and wrote the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Luis A. Sánchez-González.

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Puga-Caballero, A., Lara, C. & Sánchez-González, L.A. From clustering to overdispersion: a north to south gradient in the patterns of phylogenetic structure in North American hummingbird assemblages. Org Divers Evol 22, 511–525 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-022-00544-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13127-022-00544-0

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