Are Hawaiian honeycreepers an example of divergent or convergent evolution?

The Hawaiian honeycreepers are a spectacular example of adaptive radiation and may demonstrate convergence, but uncertainty about phylogenetic relationships within the group has made it difficult to assess such evolutionary patterns.

What are honeycreepers adaptations?

Some honeycreepers have small, thin beaks, ideal for gleaning arthropods from tree foliage. Other species have longer, curved beaks, adaptive to feeding on nectar or on insects deep in bark crevices. The beaks of yet other species are heavier and more conical and are used to feed on plant seeds.

Why are islands good for adaptive radiation?

Islands are particularly good places to look for adaptive radiation because islands are typically isolated and may or may not be entirely new geological entities. If there are ecological niches to be exploited, this creates the opportunity for adaptive radiation.

Why is there so much diversity among honeycreepers in Hawaii?

So the question that we started with was how did this incredible diversity evolve over time?” The answer is unique to the Hawaiian Islands, which are part of a conveyor belt of island formation due to volcanic activity, with new islands popping up as the conveyor belt moves northwest.

Why are the Hawaiian islands so good at making new species?

An Adaptive Radiation Has Led to a Dramatic Diversification of the Drosophilids in Hawaii. In an area of just 16,700 square kilometers (about 6,500 square miles), the Hawaiian islands have the most diverse collection of drosophilid flies found anywhere in the world (see Figure 10).

How did the process of adaptive radiation affect honeycreepers?

In adaptive radiation, many different species evolve from a single ancestor species. Each new species evolves to exploit a different niche, such as food source. In the example above, Hawaiian honeycreepers evolved a range of bill forms in response to available food sources on the Hawaiian archipelago.

What happened to the honeycreepers?

Honeycreeper populations declined an average of 68 percent in the core of their preferred range on Kaua’i and 94 percent at the fringes of their habitat over the past 15 years, researchers reported recently in Science Advances. “The most recent data show a greatly accelerated decline in the entire avian community.

How did mammals get to Hawaii?

Many of the plants and animals on the islands are so similar to species elsewhere that they obviously were brought to Hawaii by the humans who began colonizing the islands between approximately 1,200 and 1,600 years ago.

Why are Hawaiian honeycreepers important?

Hawaiian honeycreepers pollinate (fertilize) native plants and keep the insect population under control, much to the benefit of people. They also attract tourists to Hawaii who enjoy watching the colorful birds.

Why are Hawaiian honeycreepers going extinct?

Avian malaria, a disease transmitted by invasive mosquitoes, is driving the potential extinction of four native honeycreepers: ‘akikiki, ‘akeke’e, kiwikiu, and ʻākohekohe. Kiwikiu and ‘akikiki have fewer than 200 birds remaining and could go extinct in the next two years.