Evolutionary Macroecology and the Geographical Patterns of Neotropical Diversification

Abstract

Over the last decades, the geographical distribution of species, as well as its associated patterns have been at the core of the macroecology research program. Gradients in geographic range size and shape, as well as range overlap (species richness), reveal broad-scale patterns that may help to infer underlying ecological processes, mainly related to climatic and environmental variation. However, it is clear now that evolutionary processes are at least equally important, demanding the inclusion of an evolutionary dimension to better understand such patterns. In this review, we discuss recent macroecological approaches to study evolutionary patterns at the geographical scale, and exemplify some of these approaches with data from a model group of Neotropical birds, the Furnariides.