Diversification of tropical avifaunas
The diversification of tropical avifaunas is being studied using molecular methods, in collaboration with the DNA laboratory of the Zoological Institute. This work focuses on modes of speciation, the relative role of speciation in montane areas and of adaptive re-distribution in relation to functional heterogeneity and carrying capacity of landscapes in adjacent lowlands. Case studies for these phylographic studies (Andropadus, Attapetes, Cranioleuca, Metallura, Ochthoeca, Timallidae) are selected to test various predictions of a model hypothesis for continent-wide diversification based on the distributional databases and the DNA hybridization data published by Sibley and Ahlquist (1990) (J. Fjeldså, with P. Arctander, M. Roy, B. Slikas, J. Garcia-Moreno and three cand.scient. students at the Zoological Institute, and J. Lovett, Botanical Museum). A systematic revision of the possibly most difficult of all bird genera, Scytalopus has been completed , whereby the number of species was raised from 11 to 37 (N. Krabbe). A study of the biogeography of the Cerrado avifauna of South America has been completed (J. C. da Silva).