Revista de Biología Tropical ISSN Impreso: 0034-7744 ISSN electrónico: 2215-2075

OAI: https://revistas.ucr.ac.cr/index.php/rbt/oai
The role of historical and local factors in determining species composition of the highland avifauna of Costa Rica and Western Panamá
PDF

Keywords

highland birds
biogeography
climate
endemism
diglossa
catharus
piranga
Costa Rica
aves de tierras altas
biogeografía
distribución
endemismo
Costa Rica

How to Cite

Barrantes, G. (2009). The role of historical and local factors in determining species composition of the highland avifauna of Costa Rica and Western Panamá. Revista De Biología Tropical, 57(S1), 333–349. https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v57i0.21360

Abstract

The formation of the mountain ranges of Costa Rica and western Panamá, as well as the cold climatic conditions that prevailed during the upper Pleistocene, played a crucial role in determining the bird species composition of the highlands in this region. Glacial conditions favored dispersal movements of bird species from the Andes, and from the Neartic region. Subsequent inter-glacial conditions reduced the connectivity between neotropical highlands (e.g., Talamanca-Andes), and between neotropical highlands and Neartic temperate region, isolating recently established populations from the ancestral populations, and promoting speciation. Within Costa Rica, the highland vegetation and the birds that occupied this vegetation possibly had a continuous distribution throughout all mountain ranges during glacial periods. This vegetation retreated to the summit of the mountains during inter-glacial periods, fragmenting the original continuous bird populations and forming “sky islands”, which decrease in size from Talamanca mountains towards the northwestern ranges. The sizes of such islands of available habitat determine the number of highland birds present in each mountain range.
https://doi.org/10.15517/rbt.v57i0.21360
PDF

Comments

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Copyright (c) 2009 Revista de Biología Tropical

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.