Molecules, morphology and the phylogeny of falconiform birds.
Item
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Title
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Molecules, morphology and the phylogeny of falconiform birds.
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Identifier
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AAI9707096
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identifier
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9707096
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Creator
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Griffiths, Carole S.
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Contributor
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Advisers: G. Barrowclough | R. Rockwell
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Date
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1996
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Language
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English
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Publisher
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City University of New York.
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Subject
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Biology, Zoology | Biology, Molecular
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Abstract
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I analyzed variation in syringeal morphology of genera within each of the families in the order Falconiformes (the diurnal birds of prey), as well as among four orders of outgroups. Goals were to derive a phylogeny for the order and to assess the usefulness of the syrinx for resolving the systematics of non-passerines. The phylogeny inferred from these data support the monophyly of the Falconiformes, and the monophyly of three clades within the order: the Falconidae, an Accipitrinae-Sagittariidae-Pandion clade, and the Cathartidae, positioned basal to the other two. Overall results of this analysis indicate that syringeal morphology is conservative, with most of the informative variation occurring at higher systematic levels.;Variations in syringeal morphology and in cytochrome b sequences were studied to resolve the relationships of genera in the family Falconidae. Two systematic issues were addressed by this research; (1) a priori analysis and differential weighting of molecular data, and, (2) the treatment of multiple data sets. Cytochrome b sequences were partitioned into six subsets, transitions and transversions at each codon position. Saturation of substitutions within these partitions was assessed graphically and saturated partitions downweighted prior to phylogenetic analysis. The phylogeny inferred from differentially weighted molecular data was congruent with the syringeal morphological hypothesis, and with a published analysis of osteological data. The separate analysis of molecular data gave insight into the potential problem in recovering phylogenetic signal caused by variation in substitution rates among sites in sequences. Because both morphological and molecular hypotheses were congruent, data were combined for the final phylogenetic analysis. The phylogeny derived from this analysis establishes three sub-families: (1) the Polyborinae, containing the four caracara genera; (2) the Falconinae, consisting of the genera Falco, Polihierax, Spiziapteryx and Microhierax; and, (3) the genera Micrastur and Herpetotheres, comprising the third, basal clade. Two genera, Daptrius and Polihierax, are polyphyletic.
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Type
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dissertation
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Source
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PQT Legacy CUNY.xlsx
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degree
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Ph.D.
