ORCID Profile
0000-0002-7816-9725
Current Organisations
Instituto Tecnológico Vale Desenvolvimento Sustentável
,
Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi
,
University of Helsinki
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Publications
Photography-based taxonomy is inadequate, unnecessary, and potentially harmful for biological sciences
Publisher: Magnolia Press
Date: 23-11-2016
DOI: 10.11646/ZOOTAXA.4196.3.9
Abstract: The question whether taxonomic descriptions naming new animal species without type specimen(s) deposited in collections should be accepted for publication by scientific journals and allowed by the Code has already been discussed in Zootaxa (Dubois & Nemésio 2007 Donegan 2008, 2009 Nemésio 2009a–b Dubois 2009 Gentile & Snell 2009 Minelli 2009 Cianferoni & Bartolozzi 2016 Amorim et al. 2016). This question was again raised in a letter supported by 35 signatories published in the journal Nature (Pape et al. 2016) on 15 September 2016. On 25 September 2016, the following rebuttal (strictly limited to 300 words as per the editorial rules of Nature) was submitted to Nature, which on 18 October 2016 refused to publish it. As we think this problem is a very important one for zoological taxonomy, this text is published here exactly as submitted to Nature, followed by the list of the 493 taxonomists and collection-based researchers who signed it in the short time span from 20 September to 6 October 2016.
AVONET: morphological, ecological and geographical data for all birds
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-02-2022
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13898
Abstract: Functional traits offer a rich quantitative framework for developing and testing theories in evolutionary biology, ecology and ecosystem science. However, the potential of functional traits to drive theoretical advances and refine models of global change can only be fully realised when species‐level information is complete. Here we present the AVONET dataset containing comprehensive functional trait data for all birds, including six ecological variables, 11 continuous morphological traits, and information on range size and location. Raw morphological measurements are presented from 90,020 in iduals of 11,009 extant bird species s led from 181 countries. These data are also summarised as species averages in three taxonomic formats, allowing integration with a global phylogeny, geographical range maps, IUCN Red List data and the eBird citizen science database. The AVONET dataset provides the most detailed picture of continuous trait variation for any major radiation of organisms, offering a global template for testing hypotheses and exploring the evolutionary origins, structure and functioning of bio ersity.
Dense sampling of bird diversity increases power of comparative genomics
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 11-11-2020
Cover Image: Volume 25 Number 3, March 2022
Publisher: Wiley
Date: 24-02-2022
DOI: 10.1111/ELE.13795
Earth history and the passerine superradiation
Publisher: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Date: 04-2019
Abstract: Avian ersification has been influenced by global climate change, plate tectonic movements, and mass extinction events. However, the impact of these factors on the ersification of the hyper erse perching birds (passerines) is unclear because family level relationships are unresolved and the timing of splitting events among lineages is uncertain. We analyzed DNA data from 4,060 nuclear loci and 137 passerine families using concatenation and coalescent approaches to infer a comprehensive phylogenetic hypothesis that clarifies relationships among all passerine families. Then, we calibrated this phylogeny using 13 fossils to examine the effects of different events in Earth history on the timing and rate of passerine ersification. Our analyses reconcile passerine ersification with the fossil and geological records suggest that passerines originated on the Australian landmass ∼47 Ma and show that subsequent dispersal and ersification of passerines was affected by a number of climatological and geological events, such as Oligocene glaciation and inundation of the New Zealand landmass. Although passerine ersification rates fluctuated throughout the Cenozoic, we find no link between the rate of passerine ersification and Cenozoic global temperature, and our analyses show that the increases in passerine ersification rate we observe are disconnected from the colonization of new continents. Taken together, these results suggest more complex mechanisms than temperature change or ecological opportunity have controlled macroscale patterns of passerine speciation.
A phylogenomic perspective on the robust capuchin monkey (Sapajus) radiation: First evidence for extensive population admixture across South America
Publisher: Elsevier BV
Date: 07-2018
DOI: 10.1016/J.YMPEV.2018.02.023
Abstract: Phylogenetic relationships amongst the robust capuchin monkeys (genus Sapajus) are poorly understood. Morphology-based taxonomies have recognized anywhere from one to twelve different species. The current IUCN (2017) classification lists eight robust capuchins: S. xanthosternos, S. nigritus, S. robustus, S. flavius, S. libidinosus, S. cay, S. apella and S. macrocephalus. Here, we assembled the first phylogenomic data set for Sapajus using ultra-conserved elements (UCEs) to reconstruct a capuchin phylogeny. All phylogenomic analyses strongly supported a deep ergence of Sapajus and Cebus clades within the capuchin monkeys, and provided support for Sapajus nigritus, S. robustus and S. xanthosternos as distinct species. However, the UCE phylogeny lumped the putative species S. cay, S. libidinosus, S. apella, S. macrocephalus, and S. flavius together as a single widespread lineage. A SNP phylogeny constructed from the UCE data was better resolved and recovered S. flavius and S. libidinosus as sister species however, S. apella, S. macrocephalus, and S. cay in iduals were recovered in two geographic clades, from northeastern and southwestern Amazon, rather than clustering by currently defined morphospecies. STRUCTURE analysis of population clustering revealed widespread admixture among Sapajus populations within the Amazon and even into the Cerrado and Atlantic Forest. Difficulty in assigning species by morphology may be a result of widespread population admixture facilitated through frequent movement across major rivers and even ecosystems by robust capuchin monkeys.
Specimen collection: An essential tool
Publisher: American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Date: 23-05-2014
Idiosyncratic responses of Amazonian birds to primary forest disturbance
Publisher: Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Date: 13-11-2015
DOI: 10.1007/S00442-015-3495-Z
Abstract: As humans continue to alter tropical landscapes across the world, it is important to understand what environmental factors help determine the persistence of bio ersity in modified ecosystems. Studies on well-known taxonomic groups can offer critical insights as to the fate of bio ersity in these modified systems. Here we investigated species-specific responses of 44 forest-associated bird species with different behavioural traits to forest disturbance in 171 transects distributed across 31 landscapes in two regions of the eastern Brazilian Amazon. We investigated patterns of species occurrence in primary forests varyingly disturbed by selective-logging and fire and examined the relative importance of local, landscape and historical environmental variables in determining species occurrences. Within undisturbed and disturbed primary forest transects, we found that distance to forest edge and the biomass of large trees were the most important predictors driving the occurrence of in idual species. However, we also found considerable variation in species responses to different environmental variables as well as inter-regional variation in the responses of the same species to the same environmental variables. We advocate the utility of using species-level analyses to complement community-wide responses in order to uncover highly variable and species-specific responses to environmental change that remain so poorly understood.
Related Organisations
Instituto Tecnológico Vale Desenvolvimento Sustentável
Location: Brazil
Related Funding Activities
No related grants have been discovered for Alexandre Aleixo.