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Evolutionary history of passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes) from the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau: from a pre-Quarternary perspective to an integrative biodiversity assessment

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Abstract

As one of the most prominent topographical features on Earth, the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau (QTP) underwent a long and complex history of the QTP uplift from the collision of the Indian and the Eurasian plates to the present. At its southern and southeastern margins, it is flanked by the most significant hotspots of organismic diversity of the northern hemisphere (including birds), the Sino-Himalayan mountain forests. In contrast, the central plateau region itself harbours species-poor communities but also a good number of endemics that presumably evolved from rather ancient (pre-Pleistocene) phylogenetic lineage splits. We discuss the evolutionary history of QTP passerines from a twofold perspective including examples from our own research. First, we provide an overview of those alpine QTP endemics that represent late Miocene and Pliocene lineage splits, i.e. early colonisations to the central alpine QTP region. As an example, true rosefinches (genus Carpodacus) presumably evolved from a forested eastern QTP centre of origin and colonised the (semi-)open plateau habitats several times independently. Second, we discuss younger speciation events corresponding to phylogeographic east–west divides along the southern QTP margin. A multidisciplinary approach combining genetic, bioacoustic and morphological markers shed new light on the phylogenetic relationships of Pnoepyga wren babblers and on the intraspecific subdivision of the Buff-barred Warbler (Phylloscopus pulcher).

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Acknowledgments

The results of our own studies presented here were based on the rich material and field observations from a multitude of nearly annual expeditions of J.M. to various parts of Asia from the year 1969 until today. We would like to thank the numerous colleagues and helpers in various countries from whom we got invaluable support in many respects. During the years, J.M. received several grants from Deutsche Ornithologen-Gesellschaft (DO-G), Gesellschaft für Tropenornithologie (GTO) and from Feldbausch-Stiftung and Wagner-Stiftung, both at Fachbereich Biologie, Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz, Germany. Our current studies on QTP passerine evolution as well as travel funds for participation in the Sino-Himalaya symposium at the IOC in Tokyo 2014 were granted by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft, PA 1818/3-1 (MP). Y.-H.S. received research grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China, project No. 31272286. D.T.T. was funded by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Ti 679/1-1, Ti 679/2-1) and received travel grants for the IOC in Tokyo by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). We would like to thank all colleagues who contributed to this symposium and to those who participated in the successive fruitful discussions—you all made this meeting a big success.

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Correspondence to Martin Päckert.

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Päckert, M., Martens, J., Sun, YH. et al. Evolutionary history of passerine birds (Aves: Passeriformes) from the Qinghai–Tibetan plateau: from a pre-Quarternary perspective to an integrative biodiversity assessment. J Ornithol 156 (Suppl 1), 355–365 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10336-015-1185-6

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