The International Research Fellowship Program enables U.S. scientists and engineers to conduct three to twenty-four months of research abroad. The program's awards provide opportunities for joint research, and the use of unique or complementary facilities, expertise and experimental conditions abroad.
This award will support a twenty-two-month research fellowship by Dr. Curtis A. Marantz to work with Dr. Jorge L. Perez Eman at the Universidad Central de Venezuela in Caracas, Venezuela.
Vocalizations are believed to promote reproductive isolation in many animal taxa, but only recently have they been used in studies of Neotropical birds. To better understand regional biogeography and vocal evolution in the Buff-throated Woodcreeper complex, the present work seeks to 1) document the geographical distribution of the two species (X. guttatus and the Cocoa Woodcreeper, X. susurrans) and four subspecies groups in this complex that occur in Venezuela, 2) determine how many evolutionary lineages are represented, 3) examine song evolution in this complex using a comparative method, and 4) assess the importance of vocalizations in the reproductive isolation of these birds. The Pis will record songs and collect specimens of woodcreepers from sites across Venezuela. These sites were chosen both to elucidate potential geographical gaps and to locate areas of contact between taxa in this group. It appears that this species complex is represented in Venezuela by evolutionary lineages that have affinities to Central America, the Caribbean, the Guianas, and Amazonia. The Venezuelan Llanos likely represents a contact zone for X. guttatus and X. susurrans, so it is key to the study of reproductive isolation in these taxa. It is likely that examination of vocal data in a phylogenetic context will reveal both rapid evolution of some vocalizations and that reproductive isolation involves more than just songs. This project represents one of few studies to examine song evolution using a comparative method and it will be the first to incorporate vocal variation within individuals.
Collaboration with Venezuelan institutions strengthens the research capabilities of the host country, while at the same time it provides vocal and genetic samples from a region that, despite its importance to regional biogeography, is underrepresented in studies of avian phylogeography. All specimens collected in Venezuela will be deposited at the Phelps Ornithological Collection in Caracas, and all sound recordings will be archived at the Library of Natural Sounds, Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology, Ithaca, New York, with copies remaining in Venezuela.
