Rivers, Mountains and Islands: exploring the role of geographic barriers in avian speciation in Southern South America

KOPUCHIAN, CECILIA

virtual

Congreso; XXVII Congreso Brasileiro de Ornitologia; 2021

Sociedad Brasilera de Ornitologia

Biogeographers have traditionally considered geographic barriers as promoters of allopatric speciation. Many studies have tested these hypotheses worldwide and even in the Neotropics, but until recently, few existed from the southern cone of South America. Here we review studies from our group aimed to fill this gap in the literature and elucidate the role of rivers, mountains and islands in avian speciation in this unique region of the planet. We will focus on examples in the largest subtropical river basin (the Río de La Plata), in the Southern Andes and in the Malvinas-Falkland Islands, to show how allopatric speciation has shaped the region’s avifauna.