scholarly journals Insights from macroevolutionary modelling and ancestral state reconstruction into the radiation and historical dietary ecology of Lemuriformes (Primates, Mammalia)

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan L. Fulwood ◽  
Shan Shan ◽  
Julia M. Winchester ◽  
Henry Kirveslahti ◽  
Robert Ravier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Radiation ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Model Fitting ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
Second Molar ◽  
Rates Of Change ◽  
Dietary Ecology

Abstract Background Lemurs once rivalled the diversity of rest of the primate order despite thier confinement to the island of Madagascar. We test the adaptive radiation model of Malagasy lemur diversity using a novel combination of phylogenetic comparative methods and geometric methods for quantifying tooth shape. Results We apply macroevolutionary model fitting approaches and disparity through time analysis to dental topography metrics associated with dietary adaptation, an aspect of mammalian ecology which appears to be closely related to diversification in many clades. Metrics were also reconstructed at internal nodes of the lemur tree and these reconstructions were combined to generate dietary classification probabilities at internal nodes using discriminant function analysis. We used these reconstructions to calculate rates of transition toward folivory per million-year intervals. Finally, lower second molar shape was reconstructed at internal nodes by modelling the change in shape of 3D meshes using squared change parsimony along the branches of the lemur tree. Our analyses of dental topography metrics do not recover an early burst in rates of change or a pattern of early partitioning of subclade disparity. However, rates of change in adaptations for folivory were highest during the Oligocene, an interval of possible forest expansion on the island. Conclusions There was no clear phylogenetic signal of bursts of morphological evolution early in lemur history. Reconstruction of the molar morphologies corresponding to the ancestral nodes of the lemur tree suggest that this may have been driven by a shift toward defended plant resources, however. This suggests a response to the ecological opportunity offered by expanding forests, but not necessarily a classic adaptive radiation initiated by dispersal to Madagascar.

scholarly journals Insights from macroevolutionary modelling and ancestral state reconstruction into the radiation and historical dietary ecology of Lemuriformes (Primates, Mammalia)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ethan Fulwood ◽  
Shan Shan ◽  
Julia Winchester ◽  
Henry Kirveslahti ◽  
Robert Ravier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Function Analysis ◽  
Model Fitting ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Plant Resources ◽  
Radiation Model ◽  
Forest Expansion ◽  
Second Molar ◽  
Dietary Adaptation ◽  
Rates Of Change ◽  
Dietary Ecology

Abstract The lemurs are a highly species-rich clade of primates, which, confined almost entirely to the island of Madagascar, have evolved to rival the diversity of rest of the primate order. We test the adaptive radiation model of Malagasy lemur diversity using a novel combination of phylogenetic comparative methods and geometric methods for quantifying tooth shape. We apply macroevolutionary model fitting approaches and disparity through time analysis to dental topography metrics associated with dietary adaptation, an aspect of mammalian ecology which appears to closely related to diversification in many clades. Metrics were also reconstructed at internal nodes of the lemur tree and these reconstructions were combined to generate dietary classification probabilities at internal nodes using discriminant function analysis. We used these reconstructions to calculate rates of transition toward folivory per million-year intervals. Finally, lower second molar shape was reconstructed at internal nodes by modelling the change in shape of 3D meshes using squared change parsimony along the branches of the lemur tree. Our analyses of dental topography metrics do not recover an early burst in rates of change or a pattern of early partitioning of subclade disparity. However, rates of change in adaptations for folivory were highest during the Oligocene, an interval of possible forest expansion on the island. Reconstruction of the molar morphologies corresponding to the ancestral nodes of the lemur tree suggest that this may have been driven by a shift toward defended plant resources.

scholarly journals Constraints on the ecomorphological convergence of zooplanktivorous butterflyfishes

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer R Hodge ◽  
Yutong Song ◽  
Molly A Wightman ◽  
Analisa Milkey ◽  
Binh Tran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Swimming Performance ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Distinct Type ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Multiple Traits ◽  
Visual Identification ◽  
Form Function ◽  
Morphological Distinction ◽  
Foraging Modes

Abstract Whether distantly related organisms evolve similar strategies to meet the demands of a shared ecological niche depends on their evolutionary history and the nature of form-function relationships. In fishes, the visual identification and consumption of microscopic zooplankters, selective zooplanktivory, is a distinct type of foraging often associated with a suite of morphological specialisations. Previous work has identified inconsistencies in the trajectory and magnitude of morphological change following transitions to selective zooplanktivory, alluding to the diversity and importance of ancestral effects. Here we investigate whether transitions to selective zooplanktivory have influenced the morphological evolution of marine butterflyfishes (family Chaetodontidae), a group of small-prey specialists well known for several types of high-precision benthivory. Using Bayesian ancestral state estimation, we inferred the recent evolution of zooplanktivory among benthivorous ancestors that hunted small invertebrates and browsed by picking or scraping coral polyps. Traits related to the capture of prey appear to be functionally versatile with little morphological distinction between species with benthivorous and planktivorous foraging modes. In contrast, multiple traits related to prey detection or swimming performance are evolving toward novel, zooplanktivore-specific optima. Despite a relatively short evolutionary history, general morphological indistinctiveness, and evidence of constraint on the evolution of body size, convergent evolution has closed a near significant amount of the morphological distance between zooplanktivorous species. Overall, our findings describe the extent to which the functional demands associated with selective zooplanktivory have led to generalisable morphological features among butterflyfishes and highlight the importance of ancestral effects in shaping patterns of morphological convergence.

scholarly journals Ancestry and evolution of seasonal migration in the Parulidae

2011 ◽  
Vol 279 (1728) ◽  
pp. 610-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin M. Winger ◽  
Irby J. Lovette ◽  
David W. Winkler
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Large Family ◽  
Seasonal Migration ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Migratory Behaviour ◽  
Wood Warbler ◽  
Wood Warblers ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Tropics

Seasonal migration in birds is known to be highly labile and subject to rapid change in response to selection, such that researchers have hypothesized that phylogenetic relationships should neither predict nor constrain the migratory behaviour of a species. Many theories on the evolution of bird migration assume a framework that extant migratory species have evolved repeatedly and relatively recently from sedentary tropical or subtropical ancestors. We performed ancestral state reconstructions of migratory behaviour using a comprehensive, well-supported phylogeny of the Parulidae (the ‘wood-warblers’), a large family of Neotropical and Nearctic migratory and sedentary songbirds, and examined the rates of gain and loss of migration throughout the Parulidae. Counter to traditional hypotheses, our results suggest that the ancestral wood-warbler was migratory and that losses of migration have been at least as prevalent as gains throughout the history of Parulidae. Therefore, extant sedentary tropical radiations in the Parulidae represent losses of latitudinal migration and colonization of the tropics from temperate regions. We also tested for phylogenetic signal in migratory behaviour, and our results indicate that although migratory behaviour is variable within some wood-warbler species and clades, phylogeny significantly predicts the migratory distance of species in the Parulidae.

scholarly journals Eutherians experienced elevated evolutionary rates in the immediate aftermath of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene mass extinction

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1833) ◽  
pp. 20153026 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas John Dixon Halliday ◽  
Paul Upchurch ◽  
Anjali Goswami
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Analysis ◽  
Adaptive Radiation ◽  
Mass Extinction ◽  
Fossil Record ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Placental Mammal ◽  
Stochastic Methods ◽  
Ecological Niches ◽  
Evolutionary Radiation ◽  
Quantitative Analyses

The effect of the Cretaceous–Palaeogene (K–Pg) mass extinction on the evolution of many groups, including placental mammals, has been hotly debated. The fossil record suggests a sudden adaptive radiation of placentals immediately after the event, but several recent quantitative analyses have reconstructed no significant increase in either clade origination rates or rates of character evolution in the Palaeocene. Here we use stochastic methods to date a recent phylogenetic analysis of Cretaceous and Palaeocene mammals and show that Placentalia likely originated in the Late Cretaceous, but that most intraordinal diversification occurred during the earliest Palaeocene. This analysis reconstructs fewer than 10 placental mammal lineages crossing the K–Pg boundary. Moreover, we show that rates of morphological evolution in the 5 Myr interval immediately after the K–Pg mass extinction are three times higher than background rates during the Cretaceous. These results suggest that the K–Pg mass extinction had a marked impact on placental mammal diversification, supporting the view that an evolutionary radiation occurred as placental lineages invaded new ecological niches during the Early Palaeocene.

Niche conservatism predominates in adaptive radiation: comparing the diversification of Hawaiian arthropods using ecological niche modelling

2019 ◽  
Vol 127 (2) ◽  
pp. 479-492 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna E Hiller ◽  
Michelle S Koo ◽  
Kari R Goodman ◽  
Kerry L Shaw ◽  
Patrick M O’Grady ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Radiation ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Niche Overlap ◽  
Oceanic Islands ◽  
Niche Conservatism ◽  
Environmental Niche ◽  
Niche Modelling ◽  
Closely Related Species ◽  
Species Comparisons

Abstract The role of the environmental niche in fostering ecological divergence during adaptive radiation remains enigmatic. In this study, we examine the interplay between environmental niche divergence and conservatism in the context of adaptive radiation on oceanic islands, by characterizing the niche breadth of four Hawaiian arthropod radiations: Tetragnatha spiders (Tetragnathidae Latreille, 1804), Laupala crickets (Gryllidae Otte, 1994), a clade of Drosophila flies (Drosophilidae Fallén, 1823) and Nesosydne planthoppers (Delphacidae Kirkaldy, 1907). We assembled occurrence datasets for the four lineages, modelled their distributions and quantified niche overlap. All four groups occupy the islands in distinct ways, highlighting the contrasting axes of diversification for different lineages. Laupala and Nesosydne have opposite environmental niche extents (broad and narrow, respectively), whereas Tetragnatha and Drosophila share relatively intermediate tolerances. Temperature constrains the distributions of all four radiations. Tests of phylogenetic signal suggest that, for Tetragnatha and Drosophila, closely related species exhibit similar environmental niches; thus, diversification is associated with niche conservatism. Sister species comparisons also show that populations often retain similar environmental tolerances, although exceptions do occur. Results imply that diversification does not occur through ecological speciation; instead, adaptive radiation occurs largely within a single environment.

Ancestral state, phylogenetic signal and convergence among anuran distress calls

2018 ◽  
Vol 274 ◽  
pp. 1-5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucas Rodriguez Forti ◽  
Camila Zornosa-Torres ◽  
Rafael Márquez ◽  
Luís Felipe Toledo
Keyword(s):  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Distress Calls

Characteristics of Permanent Teeth in Persons with Trisomy G

1976 ◽  
Vol 55 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. Prahl-Andersen ◽  
J. Oerlemans
Keyword(s):  
Discriminant Function ◽  
Discriminant Function Analysis ◽  
Function Analysis ◽  
Permanent Teeth ◽  
Tooth Size ◽  
Linear Discriminant ◽  
Second Molar ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Size And Morphology ◽  
Linear Discriminant Function Analysis

Tooth size and morphology in 35 participants with trisomy G and in 33 controls have been studied. Special attention has been paid to the mean cusp pattern of the upper first and second molar. The classification matrix for the linear discriminant function analysis between participants with trisomy G and controls based on five selected variables showed three misclassifications.

scholarly journals Reconstructing the ancestral phenotypes of great apes and humans (Homininae) using subspecies-level phylogenies

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keaghan J Yaxley ◽  
Robert A Foley
Keyword(s):  
Dna Sequences ◽  
Phenotypic Variation ◽  
Common Ancestor ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Great Apes ◽  
Last Common Ancestor ◽  
Ancestral State ◽  
Great Ape ◽  
Subspecies Level ◽  
African Great Apes

Abstract Owing to their close affinity, the African great apes are of interest in the study of human evolution. Although numerous researchers have described the ancestors we share with these species with reference to extant great apes, few have done so with phylogenetic comparative methods. One obstacle to the application of these techniques is the within-species phenotypic variation found in this group. Here, we leverage this variation, modelling common ancestors using ancestral state reconstructions (ASRs) with reference to subspecies-level trait data. A subspecies-level phylogeny of the African great apes and humans was estimated from full-genome mitochondrial DNA sequences and used to implement ASRs for 14 continuous traits known to vary between great ape subspecies. Although the inclusion of within-species phenotypic variation increased the phylogenetic signal for our traits and improved the performance of our ASRs, whether this was done through the inclusion of subspecies phylogeny or through the use of existing methods made little difference. Our ASRs corroborate previous findings that the last common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees and bonobos was a chimp-like animal, but also suggest that the last common ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, bonobos and gorillas was an animal unlike any extant African great ape.

scholarly journals Iterative adaptive radiations of fossil canids show no evidence for diversity-dependent trait evolution

2015 ◽  
Vol 112 (16) ◽  
pp. 4897-4902 ◽  
Author(s):  
Graham J. Slater
Keyword(s):  
Adaptive Radiation ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Empirical Support ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Ecological Opportunity ◽  
Radiation Theory ◽  
Molar Teeth ◽  
Adaptive Radiations ◽  
Adaptive Peak ◽  
Adaptive Zone

A long-standing hypothesis in adaptive radiation theory is that ecological opportunity constrains rates of phenotypic evolution, generating a burst of morphological disparity early in clade history. Empirical support for the early burst model is rare in comparative data, however. One possible reason for this lack of support is that most phylogenetic tests have focused on extant clades, neglecting information from fossil taxa. Here, I test for the expected signature of adaptive radiation using the outstanding 40-My fossil record of North American canids. Models implying time- and diversity-dependent rates of morphological evolution are strongly rejected for two ecologically important traits, body size and grinding area of the molar teeth. Instead, Ornstein–Uhlenbeck processes implying repeated, and sometimes rapid, attraction to distinct dietary adaptive peaks receive substantial support. Diversity-dependent rates of morphological evolution seem uncommon in clades, such as canids, that exhibit a pattern of replicated adaptive radiation. Instead, these clades might best be thought of as deterministic radiations in constrained Simpsonian subzones of a major adaptive zone. Support for adaptive peak models may be diagnostic of subzonal radiations. It remains to be seen whether early burst or ecological opportunity models can explain broader adaptive radiations, such as the evolution of higher taxa.

scholarly journals Rates of morphological evolution in Captorhinidae: An adaptive radiation of Permian herbivores

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neil Brocklehurst
Keyword(s):  
Causal Relationship ◽  
Adaptive Radiation ◽  
Morphological Evolution ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
Evolutionary Innovation ◽  
Rates Of Evolution ◽  
Key Innovation ◽  
The Impact

The evolution of herbivory in early tetrapods was crucial in the establishment of terrestrial ecosystems, although it is so far unclear what effect this innovation had on the macro-evolutionary patterns observed within this clade. The clades which entered this under-filled region of ecospace might be expected to have experienced an “adaptive radiation”: an increase in rates of morphological evolution and speciation driven by the evolution of a key innovation. However such inferences are often circumstantial, being based on the coincidence of a rate shift with the origin of an evolutionary novelty. The conclusion of an adaptive radiation may be made more robust by examining the pattern of the evolutionary shift; if the evolutionary innovation coincides not only with a shift in rates of morphological evolution, but specifically in the morphological characteristics relevant to the ecological shift of interest, then one may more plausibly infer a causal relationship between the two. Here I examine the impact of diet evolution on rates of morphological change in one of the earliest tetrapod clades to evolve high-fibre herbivory: Captorhinidae. Using a method of calculating heterogeneity in rates of discrete character change across a phylogeny, it is shown that a significant increase in rates of evolution coincides with the transition to herbivory in captorhinids. Theherbivorous captorhinids also exhibit greater morphological disparity than their faunivorous relatives, indicating more rapid exploration of new regions of morphospace. As well as an increase in rates of evolution, there is a shift in the regions of the skeleton undergoing the most change; the character changes in the herbivorous lineages are concentrated in the manible and dentition. The fact that the increase in rates of evolution coincides with increased change in characters relating to food acquisition provides stronger evidence for a causal relationship between the herbivorous diet and the radiation event.

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