Winkler D W, Sheldon F H
Section of Ecology and Systematics, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Jun 15;90(12):5705-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.12.5705.
Nest construction is more diverse in the Hirundinidae than in any other family of oscine birds. To explore the evolution of this diversity, we superimposed nest data on a DNA-hybridization phylogeny of 17 swallow species. Nest construction is tightly linked to the inferred evolutionary history. Burrowing appears to be the primitive nesting mode, and burrowing ancestors gave rise to cavity-adopting and mud-nesting clades. Obligate cavity adoption is mostly confined to a monophyletic clade in the New World, and the diversification of obligate nest adopters appears to be tied to the richness of forest habitats and recent active mountain building there. Construction of mud nests originated only once in the history of the group, and mud-nesters have diversified principally in Africa, where a drier climatic history has favored their mode of nesting. The use of pure mud to construct a hanging nest is unique among all birds, and we infer that mud nests have increased in complexity during evolution from simple mud cups to fully enclosed retort-shaped nests. This increased complexity appears to have been the critical precursor for the evolution of high-density colonial mud-nesters.
燕科鸟类的筑巢方式比其他任何鸣禽科都更为多样。为了探究这种多样性的演化，我们将筑巢数据叠加到17种燕子的DNA杂交系统发育树上。筑巢方式与推断出的进化史紧密相连。挖掘式筑巢似乎是原始的筑巢模式，挖掘式筑巢的祖先演化出了利用树洞和泥巢的类群。专性利用树洞筑巢大多局限于新大陆的一个单系类群，专性利用树洞筑巢者的多样化似乎与那里丰富的森林栖息地和近期活跃的山地形成有关。泥巢的建造在该类群的历史上仅起源过一次，泥巢筑巢者主要在非洲实现了多样化，那里较为干燥的气候历史有利于它们的筑巢方式。使用纯泥建造悬挂式巢穴在所有鸟类中是独一无二的，我们推断泥巢在从简单的泥杯到完全封闭的蒸馏瓶状巢穴的演化过程中复杂度有所增加。这种复杂度的增加似乎是高密度群居泥巢筑巢者演化的关键前提。
