Ph. D. in Ecology and Evolution, University of Illinois at Chicago. Expected June 2004.
M.S. in Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis. June 1996.
B.S. in Biology, Universidad Ricardo Palma, Lima, Perú. April 1992.

Grants, Fellowships and Awards:

2002 AOU Research Award. American Ornithologists' Union. Understanding the evolution of Neotropical diversity: implications from phylogeographic patterns in two co-distributed avian genera.
2002 Graduate Student Fellowship. Field Museum Graduate Student Fellowship. Support for one full academic year.
2002 NSF Dissertation Enhancement Grant. Understanding the evolution of Neotropical diversity: implications from phylogenetic patterns in two co-distributed avian genera (with Dr. J. M. Bates).
2001 American Ornithologists' Union Travel Award. One Hundred and Nineteen Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union. Seattle, Washington.
2001 UIC Provost Award for Graduate Research. Understanding the evolution of Neotropical diversity: implications from phylogeographic patterns in two co-distributed avian genera.
2000 Sigma Xi. Grants in Aid for Research. Understanding the evolution of Neotropical diversity: implications from phylogeographic patterns in two co-distributed avian genera.
2000 and 2002 American Museum of Natural History. Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund. Understanding the evolution of Neotropical diversity: implications from phylogeographic patterns in two co-distributed avian genera.
2000 IDEA WILD (grant for field equipment). Placement of a newly described species on the phylogeny of a poorly known genus of antbirds.
2000 American Ornithologists' Union Travel Award. One Hundred and Eighteen Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union. St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada.
2000 Graduate Student Research Achievement Award. Department of Biological Sciences. University of Illinois at Chicago.
1997 Teaching Assistantship from the University of Illinois at Chicago to cover tuition and stipend for the 1997-2002 academic years, as a Ph.D. student.
1997 The Field Museum. Visiting Researcher Grant. Allopatric distribution and patterns of geographic variation in the Pipra erythrocephala clade
1996 American Museum of Natural History. Collection Study Grant: Allopatric distribution and patterns of geographic variation in the Pipra erythrocephala clade.
1996 Smithsonian Graduate Student Award: Patterns of intraspecific geographic variation in morphology and plumage coloration in the Pipra erythrocephala clade.
1995 American Ornithologist's Union. Support to attend the V Congress of Neotropical Ornithology. Asuncion, Paraguay.
1995 Graduate Research Fellowship-University of Missouri-St. Louis. Lekking behavior and ecology of the Round-tailed Manakin, Pipra chloromeros.
1994 International Center for Tropical Ecology from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Interactions between figs and birds in a Peruvian forest: abundance and implications for seed dispersal.
1993 Teaching Assistantship from the University of Missouri-St. Louis to cover tuition and stipend for the 1993-94-95 academic year, as M.S. student at University of Missouri - St. Louis.
1993 Organization for Tropical Studies. Fellowship to attend the Tropical Biology Course. San Jose, Costa Rica.
1991 Smithsonian Institution, BIOLAT Program. Male dispersion and lek evolution in the Dwarf Tyrant Manakin (Tyranneutes stolzmanni) (with Dr. M. S. Foster).
1989, 1990 World Wildlife Fund, Grant through Dr. John Terborgh. Social behavior and ecology of the Round-tailed Manakin, Pipra chloromeros.
1989 Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnología del Perú. Social behavior and ecology of the Round-tailed Manakin, Pipra chloromeros.
1989 Frank M. Chapman Memorial Fund. Social behavior and ecology of the Round-tailed Manakin, Pipra chloromeros.

Research Interests:

Systematics and biogeography of birds.

Current research:

Understanding the evolution of Neotropical diversity: implications from phylogeographic patterns in two co-distributed avian genera.- I am studying the diversification of two independent avian lineages that are co-distributed across the Neotropics using mitochondrial and nuclear DNA sequences. Phylogenetic patterns of these lineages will be used to interpret historical relationships among areas of endemism. This study will constitute one of the first to extensively examine phylogeographic patterns for lineages distributed throughout the Neotropical lowlands. Results of this research will provide an important contribution to our understanding of biological diversification in the Neotropics, within Amazonia, and between Amazonia and other Neotropical lowland regions. These data will also have implications for determining conservation priorities based on genetic diversity.

This research has two main objectives: (1) to resolve the phylogenetic relationships within Cercomacra antbirds (Aves: Thamnophilidae, twelve species and 20 recognized subspecies) and Platyrinchus flycatchers (Aves: Tyrannidae, seven species and 28 recognized subspecies) using molecular characters; and (2) to interpret the historical relationships among areas of endemism using phylogenetic analysis and present-day patterns of species distributions in these genera. Patterns of diversification in Cercomacra and Platyrinchus can be contrasted with each other, as well as with published phylogenetic patterns for other Neotropical taxa. Taxa within these lineages have differences in morphology, plumage coloration, song, general habitat and microhabitat preferences whose evolution can be studied in a phylogenetic framework. Phylogenetic relationships will be determined by sequencing about 3000 base pairs from two protein-coding mitochondrial genes (cytochrome b and NADH dehydrogenase subunit 2) and one nuclear encoded intron (from the beta-fibrinogen gene). Tissue samples from 75% and 100% of the recognized biological species for Cercomacra and Platyrinchus, respectively, are available in tissue collections at either the Field Museum or other US institutions. Additional taxa will be collected in the field. Since the outgroups for Cercomacra and Platyrinchus are unknown, DNA sequences of other antbirds and flycatchers will be included in the analyses.

Molecular phylogenetics of the Flatbill and Tody-tyrant assemblage of Tyrant Flycatchers (Aves, Tyrannidae).- The Flatbill and Tody-tyrant assemblage, sensu Lanyon, includes 12 genera of Tyrant Flycatchers known variously as “flatbills,” “tody-tyrants,” and “pygmy-tyrants.” Lanyon supported the monophyly of the group based on similar skull morphology and nest form, and built intergeneric relationships based on syringeal characters. However, these comparisons were done without a phylogenetic framework. A more recent study assessing the phylogenetic relationships of Tyrant Flycatchers using published morphological and behavioral data failed to recover the monophyly of the Flatbill and Tody-tyrant assemblage. In this study, I used molecular data to test for the monophyly of the Flatbill Tody-tyrant assemblage sensu Lanyon. I also included representatives of the other major flycatcher assemblages for a total of 42 individuals (representing 27 tyranid genera and 36 species) and 2 non-tyranid outgroups. I sequenced 3022 bps of three mitochondrial genes (ND2, ND3, and CYTB) and one nuclear intron (intron-5 of the Beta Fibrinogen gene). Levels of phylogenetic informativeness for both mitochondrial and nuclear data are high; 54.9% and 48.7% variable sites, with 89.0% and 52.6% of those variable sites being parsimony informative. I discuss the implications of this data with the previous studies and compare and contrast phylogenetic signals from the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA character systems.

Molecular phylogenetics of the genus Tolmomyias (Aves, Tyrannidae) (with I. Caballero, R. Bowie, T. Schulenberg, and J. Bates).- The Neotropical genus Tolmomyias comprises 34 taxa, traditionally arranged among five species of large-headed, broad- and flat-billed flycatchers. Tolmomyias is found from Argentina to Mexico and inhabits the canopies of a variety of wooded habitats including humid montane forests, humid lowlands forest (both in varzea and terra firme), semi-deciduous woodlands, and mangroves. The genus is among the more problematic to differentiate and their similar plumage coloration and patterns provide few clues on their phylogenetic relationships. To date no hypotheses of relationships have been proposed for this genus. At present, we have sequenced data from 24 individuals of Tolmomyias (representing 4 species and a total of 8 taxa) and two outgroups for a total of 1392 bps of mtDNA (including the entire ND2 and ND3 genes). Levels of phylogenetic informativeness for the mitochondrial data are high: 38.3% of sites are variable sites, and 68.1% of those sites are parsimony informative. Preliminary analyses using maximum parsimony, maximum likelihood, and Bayesian inference methods did recover the same general tree. The overall topology of the trees suggests a great deal of genetic structure, both among and within current recognized species. The degree of uncorrected pairwise sequence divergence within Tolmomyias is high, ranging up to 11.9%. Although at this time, the limitations of taxon sampling prevent fully resolving the interspecies relationships of Tolmomyias, this preliminary data set showed some interesting geographic and taxonomic results, e.g. the possible non-monophyly of T. sulphurescens. We are in the process of requesting tissues from other institutions to increase the taxonomic and geographic scope of our study. Also sequencing of other markers (mitochondrial and nuclear) are planned to be done in the near future.

Preliminary assessment of phylogenetic relationships in the Antbirds (Aves, Thamnophilidae) (with R. Brumfield and M. Miller).-

Previous research at the lab:

I worked with Dr. John Bates on a preliminary analysis of genetic structure of avian populations of Cerrado grasslands. Cerrado is a term that encompasses the savanna ecosystem that occupies much of central South America south of the Amazon Basin. In terms of flora and fauna the region is quite distinctive from adjacent forests and the two types of habitats are believed to have a long history of expansion and contraction in relation to one another. Today, the cerrados have become a major conservation concern, because they are being converted into agricultural lands at a rate that far surpasses Amazonian deforestation. The goal of this pilot project was to assess genetic structure in ten bird species from sites that lie on opposite ends of the Cerrado. One site is in the state of Amapa, Brazil at the northeastern edge of cerrado distribution, the second site is in eastern Dept. of Santa Cruz, Bolivia, which is the extreme western limit of Cerrado. There were currently no genetic data on genetic structure in any cerrado birds. This project represented a collaboration with Jose Maria Cardoso da Silva, of the Universidade de Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil. Dr. da Silva has conducted extensive research throughout the cerrado region and recently received a grant from the Brazilian government to sample additional cerrado sites. This pilot project provided genetic data to be used in future proposals to expand the molecular study to include additional population samples from throughout the region. These data sets were compared with data sets that already exist for Amazonian forest birds to study the levels of genetic structure at the same geographic scale for birds of two very different ecosystems occurring on the same continent.

Oral and Poster Presentations:

Tello, J. G. Molecular phylogenetics of the Flatbill and Tody-tyrant assemblage of Tyrant Flycatchers (Aves: Tyrannidae). August 2003. One Hundred and Twenty One Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union. Urbana, Illinois.

Tello, J. G., Caballero, I. C., Bowie, R. C. K., Schulenberg, T. S., and J. M. Bates. Preliminary assessment of phylogenetic relationships in Tolmomyias Flycatchers. August 2003. One Hundred and Twenty One Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union. Urbana, Illinois.

Tello, J. G. Molecular phylogenetics of the genus Platyrinchus: Implication for the evolutionary history of the Neotropical Lowlands. January 2002. Annual Meeting of the Society for Integrative and Comparative Biology. Anaheim, California. Invited speaker, Symposium on Integrative Approaches in Biogeography.

Tello, J. G. Molecular phylogenetics of the genus Cercomacra (Aves, Thamnophilidae): Preliminary results. August 2001. One Hundred and Nineteen Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union. Seattle, Washington.

Demos, T.C., and J. G. Tello. Patterns of advertisement call variation in Trogon (Aves: Trogonidae). August 2001. One hundred and Nineteen Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union. Seattle, Washington.

Tello, J. G. Molecular phylogenetics of the genus Platyrinchus (Aves, Tyrannidae). August 2000. One Hundred and Eighteen Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union. St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada.

Tello, J. G., and G. E. Nunez. Frugivores at a fruiting Ficus in southeastern Peru. Third Symposium of Frugivory and Seed Dispersal. August 2000. Sao Pedro, Sao Paolo.

Tello, J. G., Degner, J. F., Bates, J. M., and D. E. Willard. A distinct population of Hanging-Parrot (Loriculus) from Camiguin Island, Philippines. August 1999. One Hundred and Seventeenth Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union. Ithaca, New York.

Bates, J. M., Tello, J. G., and J.M.C. da Silva. A Preliminary examination of genetic diversity in ten bird species of South American Cerrado. August 1999. One Hundred and Seventeenth Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists’ Union. Ithaca, New York.

Tello, J. G. Patterns of advertisement call evolution in the Pipra erythrocephala clade. August 1996. One Hundred and Fourteenth Stated Meeting of the American Ornithologists' Union. Boise, Idaho, U.S.A.

Tello, J. G. Lekking behavior of the Round-tailed Manakin, Pipra chloromeros [Manakin Symposium]. August 1995. V Congress of Neotropical Ornithology. Asuncion, Paraguay.

Publications:

Tello, J. G., and P. M. Velazco. In press. First description of a tent used by Platyrrhinus helleri (Chiroptera: Phyllostomidae). Acta Chiropterologica.

Tello, J. G. 2003. Frugivores at a fruiting Ficus in south-eastern Peru. Journal of Tropical Ecology 19:717-721.

Bates, J. M., Tello, J. G., and J.M.C. da Silva. 2003. A Preliminary assessment of genetic diversity in ten bird species of South American Cerrado. Studies of Neotropical Fauna and Environment 38:87-94.

Tello, J. G. 2001. Lekking behavior of the Round-tailed Manakin. Condor 138:298-321.

Goodman, S. M., Tello, J. G., and O. Langrand. 2000. Patterns of morphological and molecular variation in Acrocephalus newtoni on Madagascar. Ostrich 71:367-370.

Tello, J. G. 1999. First description of nest and nestlings of White-winged Shrike-Tanager Lanio versicolor. Cotinga 11:81-82.

Terborgh, J., Lopez, L., and J. G. Tello. 1997. Bird communities in transition: The Lago Guri Islands. Ecology 78: 1494-1501.

Terborgh, J., Lopez, L., Tello J. G., Yu D., and A. R. Bruni. 1997. Transitory States in Relaxing Ecosystems of Land-bridge Islands. In Tropical Forest Remnants: Ecology, Management, and Conservation of Fragmented Communities. W. F. Laurance and R. O. Bierregaard, Jr. (Eds.). The University of Chicago Press. Chicago, Illinois.

Tello, J. G. 1996. Lekking behavior of the Round-tailed Manakin (Pipra chloromeros) and Patterns of Advertisement Call Evolution in the Pipra erythrocephala clade. M.S. Dissertation, University of Missouri, Saint Louis, Missouri.

Tello, J. G., Caballero, I. C., and J. M. Bates. In review. Molecular data support for the specific status of the Atlantic Royal-Flycatcher, Onychorhynchus coronatus swainsoni (Aves, Tyrannidae), a Southeastern Brazilian endemic. Conservation Genetics.

Bates, J. M., Tello, J. G., Maillard, O. Z., and M. A. Aponte. In review. Avifauna del río Manupare y Crater Iturralde, un bosque Amazonico con baja diversidad de especies. Ornitología Neotropical.

Tello, J. G., Degner, J. F., Bates, J. M., and D. E. Willard. In review. A new species of Hanging-Parrot (Loriculus) from Camiguin Island, Philippines. Fieldiana Zoology.

Manuscripts in Preparation:

Tello, J. G., and J. M. Bates. Molecular phylogenetics of the Flatbill and Tody-tyrant assemblage of Tyrant Flycatchers (Aves: Tyrannidae).

Tello, J. G. Geographic variation in the Red-capped Manakin (Pipra mentalis).

Tello, J. G. Call variation in the Pipra erythrocephala clade (Aves: Pipridae).

Current Position:

http://research.amnh.org/ornithology/personnel/tello.htm