The global diversity of birds in space and time
Open accessAbstract
Current global patterns of biodiversity result from processes that operate over both space and time and thus require an integrated macroecological and macroevolutionary perspective. Molecular time trees have advanced our understanding of the tempo and mode of diversification and have identified remarkable adaptive radiations across the tree of life. However, incomplete joint phylogenetic and geographic sampling has limited broad-scale inference. Thus, the relative prevalence of rapid radiations and the importance of their geographic settings in shaping global biodiversity patterns remain unclear. Here we present, analyse and map the first complete dated phylogeny of all 9,993 extant species of birds, a widely studied group showing many unique adaptations. We find that birds have undergone a strong increase in diversification rate from about 50 million years ago to the near present. This acceleration is due to a number of significant rate increases, both within songbirds and within other young and mostly temperate radiations including the waterfowl, gulls and woodpeckers. Importantly, species characterized with very high past diversification rates are interspersed throughout the avian tree and across geographic space. Geographically, the major differences in diversification rates are hemispheric rather than latitudinal, with bird assemblages in Asia, North America and southern South America containing a disproportionate number of species from recent rapid radiations. The contr…
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“As a basis for all subsequent phylogenetic analysis, we prepared a phylogenetic tree for the species in our community by trimming from the original phylogeny available from www.birdt ree.org (Jetz et al., 2012; Figure S2).”
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- Authors
- Jetz, W., Thomas, G. H., Joy, J. B., Hartmann, K., & Mooers, A. O.
- Affiliations
- Yale University (US)
- University of Sheffield (GB)
- Simon Fraser University (CA)
- University of Tasmania (AU)
- Corresponding author
- Jetz, W.
- Venue
- Nature
- Published
- 2012-10-31
- Volume
- 491
- Issue
- 7424
- Pages
- 444-448
- ISSN
- 0028-0836 (ISSN-L)
- 1476-4687
- OpenAlex
- W2127779696
- Cited by
- 3,934
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 270 · 2025: 345 · 2024: 332 · 2023: 380 · 2022: 341 · 2021: 384 · 2020: 328 · 2019: 331 · 2018: 237 · 2017: 259 · 2016: 224 · 2015: 245 · 2014: 174 · 2013: 74 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 117.17
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- figshare.com
- Locations
- Nature (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- eCite Digital Repository (University of Tasmania) (submittedVersion)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- Figshare (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Natural Environment Research Council (NE/G012938/1, NE/G012938/2)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Plant Diversity and Evolution
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Avian ecology and behavior
- Keywords
- diversification rates, adaptive radiation, molecular phylogeny, time-calibrated phylogeny, songbirds, waterfowl, woodpeckers, latitudinal diversity gradient, global biodiversity, macroevolution, macroecology, species richness mapping, hemispheric lateralization
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Birds, Phylogeny, Biodiversity
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