CAREER: Diversification Dynamics of Andean Sky Island Birds

Tropical mountains are among the most species-rich regions of our planet. Tropical montane habitats change quickly as one travels upslope due to rapid changes in temperature, precipitation, and plant life. Narrow bands of high-elevation habitats are sometimes called “sky islands” due to their patchy and isolated distributions.

These “sky islands” can harbor species with similarly narrow distributions, creating specialized communities that are isolated across mountain ranges. This research examines the evolutionary and ecological dynamics of bird communities of Polylepis forests in the Central Andes Mountains of Peru and Bolivia. Polylepis forests are the highest-elevation forests in the world, occurring from 3500–5000 meters above sea level.

These forests are highly fragmented, with differences in the connectivity and size of forest patches. Researchers will sequence DNA from populations of approximately 30 species of birds that live in Polylepis forests and the adjacent grasslands. The researchers will assess connectivity among populations and determine if certain characteristics, such as the ability to fly long distances, are associated with differences in population connectivity among the bird species.

Current species’ classification will be evaluated in light of the population-level DNA data and data on bill shape, body size, and feather coloration. This project will provide experiential learning opportunities for undergraduate students by establishing the Museum Undergraduate Science and Exploration Opportunities (MUSEOs) program at the bird division of the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Sciences.

This new curriculum will use a near-peer network of mentors to expand entry points and progression routes for students in research and curation. The research will also foster international collaboration in the documentation of biodiversity in remote, understudied regions of South America. Finally, the project will build museum collections, advancing collections-based ornithology and biodiversity research.

This research will characterize the diversification dynamics of Andean “sky island” avifauna through the comparative phylogeography and integrative taxonomy of birds in the Polylepis woodlands of the Central Andes. By leveraging unique strengths of the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Sciences and an international team of collaborators, this project will generate integrative data sets including whole-genome sequence data and data for multiple phenotypes (morphology, color, song) to comprehensively study the origin and maintenance of avian biodiversity in an understudied and at-risk ecosystem.

This project is jointly funded by the Systematics and Biodiversity Science program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.