Biology ETDs

Publication Date

Summer 7-29-2025

Abstract

Mangroves are highly dynamic ecosystems that are widely distributed across the coastlines of the tropics and subtropics. Despite their low plant diversity, mangroves host a disproportionately high number of terrestrial vertebrate taxa. However, mangrove specialists — taxa that only occur in mangrove habitats — exhibit a global distribution that is incongruous with the broader background distribution patterns of mangrove-associated fauna, exhibiting higher diversity in Australia and Southeast Asia. This dissertation therefore aims to assess how the diversity and distribution of mangrove specialist fauna may have been shaped by the historical biogeography of mangroves, and the effects of mangrove specialisation on faunal diversification. We first describe as part of Chapter One a novel software package that reconstructs the palaeocoastlines of the Pleistocene. We subsequently used this software in Chapter Two to model the historical distribution of mangroves from 128,000 years ago to the present day, and to evaluate the relationship between mangrove specialist diversity and the historical biogeography of extant mangrove islands. Finally, in Chapter Three we focused on a single mangrove specialist species: the Mangrove Pitta, and used phylogeographic analyses to assess how mangrove specialisation drove the rapid evolution of reproductive isolation from its sister species, the Blue-winged Pitta.

Language

English

Keywords

Biogeography, Mangroves, Paleogeography, Genetics, Pittas, Birds

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Biology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

UNM Biology Department

First Committee Member (Chair)

Dr. Michael J. Andersen

Second Committee Member

Dr. Lisa N. Barrow

Third Committee Member

Dr. Christopher C. Witt

Fourth Committee Member

Dr. Michael G. Harvey

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