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Convergent evolution of 'creepers' in the Hawaiian honeycreeper radiation

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dc.contributor.author Reding, Dawn M.
dc.contributor.author Foster, Jeffrey T.
dc.contributor.author James, Helen F.
dc.contributor.author Pratt, H. Douglas
dc.contributor.author Fleischer, Robert C.
dc.date.accessioned 2009-06-08T13:09:26Z
dc.date.available 2009-06-08T13:09:26Z
dc.date.issued 2009
dc.identifier 1744-9561
dc.identifier.citation Reding, Dawn M., Foster, Jeffrey T., James, Helen F., Pratt, H. Douglas, and Fleischer, Robert C. 2009. "<a href="https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/7517">Convergent evolution of 'creepers' in the Hawaiian honeycreeper radiation</a>." <em>Biology Letters</em>, 5, (2) 221–224. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0589">https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2008.0589</a>.
dc.identifier.issn 1744-9561
dc.identifier.uri http://hdl.handle.net/10088/7517
dc.description.abstract Natural selection plays a fundamental role in the ecological theory of adaptive radiation. A prediction of this theory is the convergent evolution of traits in lineages experiencing similar environments. The Hawaiian honeycreepers are a spectacular example of adaptive radiation and may demonstrate convergence, but uncertainty about phylogenetic relationships within the group has made it difficult to assess such evolutionary patterns. We examine the phylogenetic relationships of the Hawaii creeper (), a bird that in a suite of morphological, ecological and behavioural traits closely resembles the Kauai creeper (), but whose mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) and osteology suggest a relationship with the amakihis ( in part) and akepas (). We analysed nuclear DNA sequence data from 11 relevant honeycreeper taxa and one outgroup to test whether the character contradiction results from historical hybridization and mtDNA introgression, or convergent evolution. We found no evidence of past hybridization, a phenomenon that remains undocumented in Hawaiian honeycreepers, and confirmed mtDNA and osteological evidence that the Hawaii creeper is most closely related to the amakihis and akepas. Thus, the morphological, ecological and behavioural similarities between the evolutionarily distant Hawaii and Kauai creepers represent an extreme example of convergent evolution and demonstrate how natural selection can lead to repeatable evolutionary outcomes.
dc.format.extent 187024 bytes
dc.format.extent 345978 bytes
dc.format.extent 221–224
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf
dc.language.iso en_US
dc.relation.ispartof Biology Letters 5 (2)
dc.title Convergent evolution of 'creepers' in the Hawaiian honeycreeper radiation
dc.type article
sro.identifier.refworksID 73090
sro.identifier.itemID 78432
sro.description.unit NMNH
sro.description.unit NH-Vertebrate Zoology
sro.description.unit NZP
sro.identifier.doi 10.1098/rsbl.2008.0589
sro.identifier.url https://repository.si.edu/handle/10088/7517


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