An integrative approach to the phylogeography of lowland New Guinea birds: combining data from museum collections, genetics, and predictive distribution models

New Guinea is the world’s largest tropical island, boasting vast tracts of lowland forest and rich faunal assemblages. Many lowland bird species are commonly “lumped” into a single species because their habitat is continuous and assumed to be homogeneous. Emerging phylogeographic research by Dr. Jack Dumbacher, Chairman and Assistant Curator of the Department of Ornithology and Mammalogy at the Academy and Kristy Deiner, Ph.D. student in the Ecology Graduate Group at UC Davis has identified previously unrecognized diversity among New Guinea lowland birds.

CBRI partnered with Dr. Dumbacher and Deiner to test their genetic hypothesis for The Little Shrike-Thrush (Colluricincla megarhyncha) using georeferenced museum collection localities, GIS, and predicted distribution modeling software. Our ecological niche models help reinforce their phylogenetic hypotheses of taxonomic differentiation within large continuous basins. By combining these research tools; taxonomy, niche modeling, and geographic barriers, we can begin to efficiently identify conservation priority areas in New Guinea.

Assessing the effects of locality accuracy in predicting species distributions (find updated title)

Description and links

People and Institutions

Conservation Impacts

Description and links

People and Institutions (CBRI, John Dumbacher, Kristy Deiner)

Conservation Impacts