Biology ETDs

Publication Date

Fall 12-13-2025

Abstract

Understanding the patterns and processes that generate biodiversity is a unifying theme in evolutionary biology. This dissertation investigates how geography and evolutionary history interact to shape patterns of avian diversification across multiple spatial and taxonomic scales. My first chapter uses a near-complete timetree of white-eyes (Zosteropidae) to show that island lineages exhibit elevated speciation rates relative to continental lineages, highlighting Indo-Pacific archipelagos as engines of diversification. The second chapter reconstructs a comprehensive phylogenomic tree and historical biogeography of the honeyeater genus Myzomela, uncovering non-monophyly in several species complexes and revealing repeated colonization of Wallacea and the South Pacific followed by rapid radiations. In my third chapter, I integrate genomic, plumage, and vocal data to reveal patterns of divergence, gene flow, and discordant geographic clines in the Curve-billed Thrasher (Toxostoma curvirostre) complex from the North American Southwest. Overall, these chapters illustrate the dynamic interaction between geography and evolutionary processes in the generation and maintenance of avian diversity.

Language

English

Keywords

Ornithology, Biogeography, Evolution, Systematics

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Biology

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

UNM Biology Department

First Committee Member (Chair)

Michael J. Andersen

Second Committee Member

Christopher C. Witt

Third Committee Member

Joseph A. Cook

Fourth Committee Member

John E. McCormack

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Available for download on Monday, December 13, 2027

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