Data from: The roles of ecology, behavior and effective population size in the evolution of a community

Organismal traits such as ecological specialization and migratory behavior may affect colonization potential, population persistence, and degree of isolation, factors that determine the composition and genetic structure of communities. However, studies focusing on community assembly rarely consider these factors jointly. We sequenced 16 nuclear and one mitochondrial genes from Caucasian and European populations of 30 forest-dwelling avian species that represent diverse ecological (specialist-generalist) and behavioral (migratory-resident) backgrounds. We tested the effects of organismal traits on population divergence and community assembly in the Caucasus forest, a continental mountain island setting. We found that (1) there is no concordance in divergence times between the Caucasus forest bird populations and their European counterparts, (2) habitat specialists tend to be more divergent than generalists, and (3) residents tend to be more divergent than migrants. Thus, specialists and residents contribute to the high level of endemism of Caucasus forest avifauna more than do generalists and migrants. Patterns of genetic differentiation are better explained by differences in effective population sizes, an often overlooked factor in comparative studies of phylogeography and speciation, than by divergence times or levels of gene flow. Our results suggest that the Caucasus forest avifauna was assembled through time via dispersal and/or multiple vicariant events, rather than originating simultaneously via a single isolation event. Our study is one of the first multi-locus, multi-species analyses revealing how ecological and migratory traits impact the evolutionary history of community formation on a continental island.诸如生态特化（ecological specialization）与迁徙行为（migratory behavior）这类生物性状，可影响类群定殖潜力（colonization potential）、种群存续能力（population persistence）与隔离程度（degree of isolation）——而这些因素正是决定群落组成与遗传结构的核心要素。然而，当前聚焦于群落构建（community assembly）的研究，却极少同时综合考量上述各类因素。 我们对30种森林栖息鸟类的高加索种群与欧洲种群进行了测序，这些鸟类涵盖了多样化的生态（特化者-泛化者）与行为（迁徙型-居留型）背景，共获取16个核基因（nuclear gene）与1个线粒体基因（mitochondrial gene）的序列。本研究以作为大陆山地岛屿的高加索森林为研究场景，探究了生物性状对种群分化（population divergence）与群落构建的影响。 研究结果显示：其一，高加索森林鸟类种群与其欧洲对应种群的分化时间并无一致性；其二，生境特化类群的分化程度往往高于泛化类群；其三，居留型类群的分化程度往往高于迁徙型类群。 据此可见，相较于泛化类群与迁徙型类群，特化类群与居留型类群对高加索森林鸟类区系（avifauna）的高特有性（endemism）贡献更为突出。相较于分化时间或基因流（gene flow）水平，有效种群大小（effective population size）的差异能够更好地解释遗传分化（genetic differentiation）模式——而有效种群大小正是系统地理学（phylogeography）与物种形成（speciation）比较研究中常被忽视的关键因素。 本研究结果表明，高加索森林鸟类区系是随时间推移通过扩散事件与/或多重地理隔离分化事件（vicariant event）逐步构建而成，而非经由单次隔离事件同步起源。本研究属于首批开展多位点、多物种分析的研究之一，揭示了生态与迁徙性状如何影响大陆岛屿上群落构建的进化历程。