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About the Authors:
Jonathan P. Drury
Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Investigation, Methodology, Project administration, Software, Validation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
* E-mail: [email protected]
Affiliation: Department of Biosciences, Durham University, Stockton Road, Durham, United Kingdom
ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0262-8761
Joseph A. Tobias
Roles Conceptualization, Data curation, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Ascot, United Kingdom
Kevin J. Burns
Roles Data curation, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: Department of Biology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, United States of America
Nicholas A. Mason
Roles Data curation, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: Department of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Allison J. Shultz
Roles Data curation, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
Hélène Morlon
Roles Conceptualization, Funding acquisition, Methodology, Resources, Supervision, Writing - original draft, Writing - review & editing
Affiliation: Institut de Biologie, École Normale Supérieure, CNRS UMR 8197, Paris, FranceAbstract
Competition between closely related species has long been viewed as a powerful selective force that drives trait diversification, thereby generating phenotypic diversity over macroevolutionary timescales. However, although the impact of interspecific competition has been documented in a handful of iconic insular radiations, most previous studies have focused on traits involved in resource use, and few have examined the role of competition across large, continental radiations. Thus, the extent to which broad-scale patterns of phenotypic diversity are shaped by competition remain largely unclear, particularly for social traits. Here, we estimate the effect of competition between interacting lineages by applying new phylogenetic models that account for such interactions to an exceptionally complete dataset of resource-use traits and social signaling traits for the entire radiation of tanagers (Aves, Thraupidae), the largest family of songbirds. We find that interspecific competition strongly influences the evolution of traits involved in resource use, with a weaker effect on plumage signals, and very little effect on song. Our results provide compelling evidence that interspecific exploitative competition contributes to ecological trait diversification among coexisting species, even in a large continental radiation. In comparison, signal traits mediating mate choice and social competition seem to diversify under different evolutionary models, including rapid diversification in the allopatric stage...