diversification

tags: evolutionary biology, speciation, species flocks, molecular phylogeny, behavioral ecology, Synodontis species, squeaker catfish, cuckoo catfish, Lake Tanganyika, peer-reviewed paper The Cuckoo Catfish, Synodontis multipunctatus [Siluriformes: Mochokidae]. This is the only fish that is a known brood parasite. This is one of the species included in this newly-published study. Image: orphaned. One of the groups of fishes that I worked with as an aquarist for nearly my entire life are the synodontids, often known as "squeaker catfish" for their ability to make high-pitched sounds.…

tags: researchblogging.org, speciation, adaptive radiation, , diversification, ecological opportunity, community assembly, species interactions, North American wood-warblers, Dendroica species, Daniel L. Rabosky Yellow-rumped warbler, Dendroica coronata, After Hatch Year male. Image: Dave Rintoul, KSU [larger view]. Several questions that motivate my own research and thinking are; How do species arise? Where does all this biodiversity that we see on Earth come from? Does speciation occur as a series of slow and gradual accumulated changes or is it an explosive process that occurs within a…