DOI: 10.5061/dryad.832k336g
title: Data from: Ecological opportunity and diversification in a continental radiation of birds: climbing adaptations and cladogenesis in the Furnariidae

description: Ecological theories of adaptive radiation predict that ecological
 opportunity stimulates cladogenesis through its effects on competitive
 release and niche expansion. Given that key innovations may confer
 ecological opportunity, we investigate the effect of the acquisition of
 climbing adaptations on rates of cladogenesis in a major avian radiation,
 the Neotropical bird family Furnariidae, using a species-level phylogeny.
 Morphological specializations for vertical climbing originated in the
 woodcreepers ca. 23 Mya, well before that adaptation occurred in
 woodpeckers (Picidae) or in other potential competitors in South America.
 This suggests that the acquisition of climbing adaptations conferred ample
 ecological opportunity to early woodcreepers. Nonetheless, we found that
 increases in speciation rates in Furnariidae did not coincide with the
 acquisition of climbing adaptations, and that the relationship between the
 accumulation of climbing adaptations and rates of speciation was negative.
 In addition, we did not detect a diversity-dependent decline in
 woodcreeper diversification rates consistent with saturation of the
 trunk-climbing niche. These findings do not support the hypothesis that
 ecological opportunity related to trunk-foraging stimulated cladogenesis
 in this radiation. The negative effect of climbing on diversification may
 be mediated by an indirect positive effect of climbing on dispersal
 ability, which may reduce speciation rates over evolutionary time scales.
description: Climbing Adaptations
 DataThis table contains
 characters associated with tree-trunk climbing observed in study skins of
 290 of the 293 currently recognized species of Furnariidae. Most specimens
 were examined at the Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science.
 For each specimen, I recorded the morphology of seven characters of the
 tail and one character of the foot that have functional significance for
 tail-assisted climbing. For each character, states were coded such that 0
 represents no specialization for climbing (the predominant state in
 passerines) and the other states represent an increasing degree of
 specialization. Character and character states are described in Table 1 of
 the associated article. Ambiguous and polymorphic conditions were coded
 with standard symbols (/ and & respectively). In addition to discrete
 characters, I used measurements of the length of one of the central tail
 feathers and the diameter (dorso-ventral) of its rachis at the midpoint to
 calculate relative rachis thickness as a percentage of the total length of
 the feather. Finally, a composite index of climbing adaptations for each
 species was calculated as the sum of the eight discrete characters plus
 relative rachis thickness all divided by 16.Table of Specimens for
 the Analysis of ND2 Divergence in WoodcreepersDendroND2.csvSpecimens Used for the Analysis of ND2 divergence in PicidaePicidae Specimen Table.csvDendrocolaptidae Maximum Likelihood Clock TreeDendroMLclock.trePicidae Maximum Likelihood Clock TreePicidaeMLclock.tre