Drivers of rich bird biodiversity in Neotropics identified

Date:

September 10, 2014

Source:

American Museum of Natural History

Summary:

New research challenges a commonly held view that explains how so many species of birds came to inhabit the Neotropics, an area rich in rain forest that extends from Mexico to the southernmost tip of South America. The study suggests that tropical bird speciation is not directly linked to geological and climate changes, as traditionally thought, but is driven by movements of birds across physical barriers that occur long after those landscapes' geological origins.

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