scholarly journals No latitudinal gradients in tempo or mode of morphological evolution in birds

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Drury ◽  
J. Clavel ◽  
J.A. Tobias ◽  
J. Rolland ◽  
C. Sheard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Trait Evolution ◽  
Trait Divergence ◽  
Diversity Gradient ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Phylogenetic Models

AbstractThe latitudinal diversity gradient is one of the most striking patterns in nature yet its implications for morphological evolution are poorly understood. In particular, it has been proposed that an increased intensity of species interactions in tropical biota may either promote or constrain trait evolution, but which of these outcomes predominates remains uncertain. Here, we develop tools for fitting phylogenetic models of phenotypic evolution in which the impact of species interactions can vary across lineages. Deploying these models on a global avian trait dataset to explore differences in trait divergence between tropical and temperate lineages, we find that the effect of latitude on the mode and tempo of morphological evolution is weak and clade- or trait-dependent. Our results indicate that species interactions do not disproportionately impact morphological evolution in tropical bird families and question the validity and universality of previously reported patterns of slower trait evolution in the tropics.

scholarly journals Tempo and mode of morphological evolution are decoupled from latitude in birds

PLoS Biology ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (8) ◽  
pp. e3001270
Author(s):  
Jonathan P. Drury ◽  
Julien Clavel ◽  
Joseph A. Tobias ◽  
Jonathan Rolland ◽  
Catherine Sheard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Trait Evolution ◽  
Trait Divergence ◽  
Latitudinal Diversity Gradient ◽  
Diversity Gradient ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Phylogenetic Models

The latitudinal diversity gradient is one of the most striking patterns in nature, yet its implications for morphological evolution are poorly understood. In particular, it has been proposed that an increased intensity of species interactions in tropical biota may either promote or constrain trait evolution, but which of these outcomes predominates remains uncertain. Here, we develop tools for fitting phylogenetic models of phenotypic evolution in which the impact of species interactions—namely, competition—can vary across lineages. Deploying these models on a global avian trait dataset to explore differences in trait divergence between tropical and temperate lineages, we find that the effect of latitude on the mode and tempo of morphological evolution is weak and clade- or trait dependent. Our results indicate that species interactions do not disproportionately impact morphological evolution in tropical bird families and question the validity of previously reported patterns of slower trait evolution in the tropics.

scholarly journals Sex, Competition and Mimicry : an eco-evolutionary model reveals how ecological interactions shape the evolution of phenotypes in sympatry

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boussens-Dumon Grégoire ◽  
Llaurens Violaine
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Deterministic Model ◽  
Evolutionary Model ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Reproductive Interference ◽  
Ecological Interactions ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Phenotypic Divergence ◽  
Colour Patterns ◽  
The Impact

1AbstractPhenotypic evolution in sympatric species can be strongly impacted by species interactions, either mutualistic or antagonistic, which may favour local phenotypic divergence or convergence. Interspecific sexual interactions between sympatric species has been shown to favour phenotypic divergence of traits used as sexual cues for example. Those traits may also be involved in local adaptation or in other types of species interactions resulting in complex evolution of traits shared by sympatric species. Here we focus on mimicry and study how reproductive interference may impair phenotypic convergence between species with various levels of defences. We use a deterministic model assuming two sympatric species and where individuals can display two different warning colour patterns. This eco-evolutionary model explores how ecological interactions shape phenotypic evolution within sympatric species. We investigate the effect of (1) the opposing density-dependent selections exerted on colour patterns by predation and reproductive behaviour, and (2) the impact of relative species and phenotype abundances on the fitness costs faced by each individual depending on their species and phenotype. Our model shows that reproductive interference may limit the convergent effect of mimetic interactions and may promote phenotypic divergence between Müllerian mimics. The divergent and convergent evolution of traits also strongly depends on the relative species and phenotype abundances and levels of trophic competition, highlighting how the eco-evolutionary feedbacks between phenotypic evolution and species abundances may result in strikingly different evolutionary routes.

scholarly journals Character displacement drives trait divergence in a continental fauna

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (20) ◽  
pp. e2021209118
Author(s):  
Sean A. S. Anderson ◽  
Jason T. Weir
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary Theory ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
New World ◽  
Latitudinal Gradient ◽  
Character Displacement ◽  
Sympatric Species ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Species Sorting ◽  
Trait Divergence ◽  
The Tropics

Coexisting (sympatric) pairs of closely related species are often characterized by exaggerated trait differences. This widespread pattern is consistent with adaptation for reduced similarity due to costly interactions (i.e., “character displacement”)—a classic hypothesis in evolutionary theory. But it is equally consistent with a community assembly bias in which lineages with greater trait differences are more likely to establish overlapping ranges in the first place (i.e., “species sorting”), as well as with null expectations of trait divergence through time. Few comparative analyses have explicitly modeled these alternatives, and it remains unclear whether trait divergence is a general prerequisite for sympatry or a consequence of interactions between sympatric species. Here, we develop statistical models that allow us to distinguish the signature of these processes based on patterns of trait divergence in closely related lineage pairs. We compare support for each model using a dataset of bill shape differences in 207 pairs of New World terrestrial birds representing 30 avian families. We find that character displacement models are overwhelmingly supported over species sorting and null expectations, indicating that exaggerated bill shape differences in sympatric pairs result from enhanced divergent selection in sympatry. We additionally detect a latitudinal gradient in character displacement, which appears strongest in the tropics. Our analysis implicates costly species interactions as powerful drivers of trait divergence in a major vertebrate fauna. These results help substantiate a long-standing but equivocally supported linchpin of evolutionary theory.

scholarly journals Adaptation and latitudinal gradients in species interactions: nest predation in birds

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin G. Freeman ◽  
Micah N. Scholer ◽  
Mannfred M. A. Boehm ◽  
Julian Heavyside ◽  
Dolph Schluter
Keyword(s):  
Nest Predation ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Interspecific Interactions ◽  
Interaction Strength ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Western Hemisphere ◽  
Evolutionary Rates ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
Biotic Interaction ◽  
The Tropics

AbstractThe “biotic interactions” hypothesis—that stronger interspecific interactions in the tropics drive faster evolution and speciation, giving rise to the latitudinal diversity gradient—has inspired many tests of whether certain biotic interactions are indeed stronger in the tropics. However, the possibility that populations have adapted to latitudinal differences in species interactions, blunting effects on evolutionary rates, has been largely ignored. Here we show that mean rates of nest predation experienced by land birds vary minimally with latitude in the Western Hemisphere. This result is surprising because nest predation in birds is a canonical example of a strong tropical biotic interaction. We explain our finding by demonstrating that (1) rates of nest predation are in fact higher in the tropics, but only when controlling for the length of the nesting period, (2) long nesting periods are associated with reduced predation rates, and (3) tropical birds have evolved particularly long nesting periods. We suggest this is a case example of how adaptation to a biotic interaction can alter observed latitudinal gradients in interaction strength, potentially equalizing evolutionary rates among latitudes. More broadly, we advocate for tests of the biotic interactions hypothesis to consider both latitudinal patterns in interaction strength and evolutionary responses to these interactions.

scholarly journals Morphological disparity opposes latitudinal diversity gradient in lacertid lizards

2014 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 20140101 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christy A. Hipsley ◽  
Donald B. Miles ◽  
Johannes Müller
Keyword(s):  
Shape Change ◽  
Spatial Scales ◽  
Morphological Differentiation ◽  
Taxonomic Diversity ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Morphological Disparity ◽  
Latitudinal Diversity Gradient ◽  
Diversity Gradient ◽  
Lineage Accumulation ◽  
The Tropics

While global variation in taxonomic diversity is strongly linked to latitude, the extent to which morphological disparity follows geographical gradients is less well known. We estimated patterns of lineage diversification, morphological disparity and rates of phenotypic evolution in the Old World lizard family Lacertidae, which displays a nearly inverse latitudinal diversity gradient with decreasing species richness towards the tropics. We found that lacertids exhibit relatively constant rates of lineage accumulation over time, although the majority of morphological variation appears to have originated during recent divergence events, resulting in increased partitioning of disparity within subclades. Among subclades, tropical arboreal taxa exhibited the fastest rates of shape change while temperate European taxa were the slowest, resulting in an inverse relationship between latitudinal diversity and rates of phenotypic evolution. This pattern demonstrates a compelling counterexample to the ecological opportunity theory of diversification, suggesting an uncoupling of the processes generating species diversity and morphological differentiation across spatial scales.

scholarly journals Functional biogeography of parasite traits: hypotheses and evidence

2021 ◽  
Vol 376 (1837) ◽  
pp. 20200365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Poulin
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Support ◽  
Species Traits ◽  
Latitudinal Gradients ◽  
Geographical Patterns ◽  
Diversity Gradient ◽  
Rapoport’S Rule ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Living Organisms ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
Underlying Processes

Functional biogeography, or the study of trait-based distributional patterns, not only complements our understanding of spatial patterns in biodiversity, but also sheds light on the underlying processes generating them. In parallel with the well-studied latitudinal diversity gradient, decades-old ecogeographical rules also postulate latitudinal variation in species traits. Notably, species in the tropics are predicted to have smaller body sizes (Bergmann's rule), narrower niches (MacArthur's rule) and smaller geographical ranges (Rapoport's rule) than their counterparts at higher latitudes. Although originally proposed for free-living organisms, these rules have been extended to parasitic organisms as well. In this review, I discuss the mechanistic hypotheses most likely to explain latitudinal gradients in parasite traits, and assess the empirical evidence obtained from comparative studies testing the above three rules as well as latitudinal gradients in other parasite traits. Overall, there is only weak empirical support for latitudinal gradients in any parasite trait, with little consistency among comparative analyses. The most parsimonious explanation for the existence of geographical patterns in parasite traits is that they are primarily host-driven, i.e. ecological traits of parasites track those of their hosts, with a direct influence of bioclimatic factors playing a secondary role. Thus, geographical patterns in parasite traits probably emerge as epiphenomena of parallel patterns in their hosts. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Infectious disease macroecology: parasite diversity and dynamics across the globe’.

scholarly journals The importance of species interactions in eco-evolutionary community dynamics under climate change

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Åkesson ◽  
Alva Curtsdotter ◽  
Anna Eklöf ◽  
Bo Ebenman ◽  
Jon Norberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Species Interactions ◽  
Community Dynamics ◽  
Evolutionary Dynamics ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Trophic Levels ◽  
Temperature Dependent ◽  
Modeling Framework ◽  
Impact Of Climate Change ◽  
The Impact

AbstractEco-evolutionary dynamics are essential in shaping the biological response of communities to ongoing climate change. Here we develop a spatially explicit eco-evolutionary framework which features more detailed species interactions, integrating evolution and dispersal. We include species interactions within and between trophic levels, and additionally, we incorporate the feature that species’ interspecific competition might change due to increasing temperatures and affect the impact of climate change on ecological communities. Our modeling framework captures previously reported ecological responses to climate change, and also reveals two key results. First, interactions between trophic levels as well as temperature-dependent competition within a trophic level mitigate the negative impact of climate change on biodiversity, emphasizing the importance of understanding biotic interactions in shaping climate change impact. Second, our trait-based perspective reveals a strong positive relationship between the within-community variation in preferred temperatures and the capacity to respond to climate change. Temperature-dependent competition consistently results both in higher trait variation and more responsive communities to altered climatic conditions. Our study demonstrates the importance of species interactions in an eco-evolutionary setting, further expanding our knowledge of the interplay between ecological and evolutionary processes.

scholarly journals Evaluating the role of contracting and expanding rainforest in initiating cycles of speciation across the Isthmus of Panama

2012 ◽  
Vol 279 (1742) ◽  
pp. 3520-3526 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Tilston Smith ◽  
Amei Amei ◽  
John Klicka
Keyword(s):  
Bird Species ◽  
Tropical Regions ◽  
Isthmus Of Panama ◽  
Species Pairs ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
High Species Richness ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The Tropics ◽  
The Impact

Climatic and geological changes across time are presumed to have shaped the rich biodiversity of tropical regions. However, the impact climatic drying and subsequent tropical rainforest contraction had on speciation has been controversial because of inconsistent palaeoecological and genetic data. Despite the strong interest in examining the role of climatic change on speciation in the Neotropics there has been few comparative studies, particularly, those that include non-rainforest taxa. We used bird species that inhabit humid or dry habitats that dispersed across the Panamanian Isthmus to characterize temporal and spatial patterns of speciation across this barrier. Here, we show that these two assemblages of birds exhibit temporally different speciation time patterns that supports multiple cycles of speciation. Evidence for these cycles is further corroborated by the finding that both assemblages consist of ‘young’ and ‘old’ species, despite dry habitat species pairs being geographically more distant than pairs of humid habitat species. The matrix of humid and dry habitats in the tropics not only allows for the maintenance of high species richness, but additionally this study suggests that these environments may have promoted speciation. We conclude that differentially expanding and contracting distributions of dry and humid habitats was probably an important contributor to speciation in the tropics.

scholarly journals Sensory-based niche partitioning in a multiple predator–multiple prey community

2015 ◽  
Vol 282 (1808) ◽  
pp. 20150520 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay J. Falk ◽  
Hannah M. ter Hofstede ◽  
Patricia L. Jones ◽  
Marjorie M. Dixon ◽  
Paul A. Faure ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Prey Species ◽  
Niche Partitioning ◽  
Signal Evolution ◽  
Signal Design ◽  
Predator Species ◽  
Mate Attraction ◽  
Communication Signals ◽  
Signal Features ◽  
The Impact

Many predators and parasites eavesdrop on the communication signals of their prey. Eavesdropping is typically studied as dyadic predator–prey species interactions; yet in nature, most predators target multiple prey species and most prey must evade multiple predator species. The impact of predator communities on prey signal evolution is not well understood. Predators could converge in their preferences for conspicuous signal properties, generating competition among predators and natural selection on particular prey signal features. Alternatively, predator species could vary in their preferences for prey signal properties, resulting in sensory-based niche partitioning of prey resources. In the Neotropics, many substrate-gleaning bats use the mate-attraction songs of male katydids to locate them as prey. We studied mechanisms of niche partitioning in four substrate-gleaning bat species and found they are similar in morphology, echolocation signal design and prey-handling ability, but each species preferred different acoustic features of male song in 12 sympatric katydid species. This divergence in predator preference probably contributes to the coexistence of many substrate-gleaning bat species in the Neotropics, and the substantial diversity in the mate-attraction signals of katydids. Our results provide insight into how multiple eavesdropping predator species might influence prey signal evolution through sensory-based niche partitioning.

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