Disentangling the role of shared ancestry and the environment on leaf stable isotopes

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marko J. Spasojevic ◽  
Sören Weber1
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Habitat Types ◽  
Δ13c And Δ15n ◽  
Environmental Controls ◽  
Shared Ancestry

Stable carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) isotopes in plants are important indicators of plant water use efficiency and N acquisition strategies. While often regarded as being under environmental control, there is growing evidence that evolutionary history may also shape variation in stable isotope ratios (δ13C and δ15N) among plant species. Here we examined patterns of foliar δ13C and δ15N in alpine tundra for 59 species in 20 plant families. To assess the importance of environmental controls and evolutionary history, we examined if average δ13C and δ15N predictably differed among habitat types, if individual species exhibited intraspecific trait variation (ITV) in δ13C and δ15N, and if there were a significant phylogenetic signal in δ13C and δ15N. We found that variation among habitat types in both δ13C and δ15N mirrored well-known patterns of water and nitrogen limitation. Conversely, we also found that 40% of species exhibited no ITV in δ13C and 35% of species exhibited no ITV in δ15N, suggesting that some species are under stronger evolutionary control. However, we only found a modest signal of phylogenetic conservatism in δ13C and no phylogenetic signal in δ15N suggesting that shared ancestry is a weaker driver of tundra wide variation in stable isotopes. Together, our results suggest that both evolutionary history and local environmental conditions play a role in determining variation in δ13C and δ15N and that considering both factors can help with interpreting isotope patterns in nature and with predicting which species may be able to respond to rapidly changing environmental conditions.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic non-independence in rates of trait evolution

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 20180502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manabu Sakamoto ◽  
Chris Venditti
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Evolutionary Rates ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Beak Shape ◽  
Rates Of Evolution ◽  
Shared Ancestry ◽  
History Of

Statistical non-independence of species’ biological traits is recognized in most traits under selection. Yet, whether or not the evolutionary rates of such biological traits are statistically non-independent remains to be tested. Here, we test the hypothesis that phenotypic evolutionary rates are non-independent, i.e. contain phylogenetic signal, using empirical rates of evolution in three separate traits: body mass in mammals, beak shape in birds and bite force in amniotes. Specifically, we test if evolutionary rates are phylogenetically interdependent. We find evidence for phylogenetic signal in evolutionary rates in all three case studies. While phylogenetic signal diminishes deeper in time, this is reflective of statistical power owing to small sample and effect sizes. When effect size is large, e.g. owing to the presence of fossil tips, we detect high phylogenetic signals even in deeper time slices. Thus, we recommend that rates be treated as being non-independent throughout the evolutionary history of the group of organisms under study, and any summaries or analyses of rates through time—including associations of rates with traits—need to account for the undesired effects of shared ancestry.

scholarly journals Evaluating the influences of temperature, primary production, and evolutionary history on bivalve growth rates

Paleobiology ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 405-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Saulsbury ◽  
David K. Moss ◽  
Linda C. Ivany ◽  
Michał Kowalewski ◽  
David R. Lindberg ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rates ◽  
Food Supply ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Environmental Predictors ◽  
Physiological Factors ◽  
Data Set ◽  
Growth Coefficient ◽  
Body Sizes

AbstractOrganismal metabolic rates reflect the interaction of environmental and physiological factors. Thus, calcifying organisms that record growth history can provide insight into both the ancient environments in which they lived and their own physiology and life history. However, interpreting them requires understanding which environmental factors have the greatest influence on growth rate and the extent to which evolutionary history constrains growth rates across lineages. We integrated satellite measurements of sea-surface temperature and chlorophyll-a concentration with a database of growth coefficients, body sizes, and life spans for 692 populations of living marine bivalves in 195 species, set within the context of a new maximum-likelihood phylogeny of bivalves. We find that environmental predictors overall explain only a small proportion of variation in growth coefficient across all species; temperature is a better predictor of growth coefficient than food supply, and growth coefficient is somewhat more variable at higher summer temperatures. Growth coefficients exhibit moderate phylogenetic signal, and taxonomic membership is a stronger predictor of growth coefficient than any environmental predictor, but phylogenetic inertia cannot fully explain the disjunction between our findings and the extensive body of work demonstrating strong environmental control on growth rates within taxa. Accounting for evolutionary history is critical when considering shells as historical archives. The weak relationship between variation in food supply and variation in growth coefficient in our data set is inconsistent with the hypothesis that the increase in mean body size through the Phanerozoic was driven by increasing productivity enabling faster growth rates.

scholarly journals Phylogenetic non-independence in rates of trait evolution

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manabu Sakamoto ◽  
Chris Venditti
Keyword(s):  
Statistical Power ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Small Sample ◽  
Evolutionary Rates ◽  
Biological Traits ◽  
Beak Shape ◽  
Rates Of Evolution ◽  
Shared Ancestry ◽  
History Of

Statistical non-independence of species’ biological traits is recognized in most traits under selection. Yet, whether or not the evolutionary rates of such biological traits are statistically non-independent remains to be tested. Here we test the hypothesis that phenotypic evolutionary rates are non-independent, i.e. contain phylogenetic signal, using empirical rates of evolution in three separate traits: body mass in mammals; beak shape in birds; and bite force in amniotes. Specifically, we test whether rates are non-independent throughout the evolutionary history of each tree. We find evidence for phylogenetic signal in evolutionary rates in all three case studies. While phylogenetic signal diminishes deeper in time, this is reflective of statistical power owing to small sample and effect sizes. When effect size is large, e.g., owing to the presence of fossil tips, we detect high phylogenetic signals even in deeper time slices. Thus, we recommend that rates be treated as being non-independent throughout the evolutionary history of the group of organisms under study, and any summaries or analyses of rates through time – including associations of rates with traits – need account for the undesired effects of shared ancestry.

Stable isotopes (δ13C and δ15N) in black coral as new proxies for environmental record

2021 ◽  
Vol 164 ◽  
pp. 112007
Author(s):  
Dan Wu ◽  
Fenfen Zhang ◽  
Xiaodi Zhang ◽  
Xiubao Li ◽  
Hui Huang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Δ13c And Δ15n ◽  
Black Coral

A fossil record of land plant origins from charophyte algae

Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 373 (6556) ◽  
pp. 792-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul K. Strother ◽  
Clinton Foster
Keyword(s):  
Fossil Record ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Land Plant ◽  
Fossil Plants ◽  
Fossil Plant ◽  
Molecular Phylogenetic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Time Gap ◽  
Evolutionary Continuity

Molecular time trees indicating that embryophytes originated around 500 million years ago (Ma) during the Cambrian are at odds with the record of fossil plants, which first appear in the mid-Silurian almost 80 million years later. This time gap has been attributed to a missing fossil plant record, but that attribution belies the case for fossil spores. Here, we describe a Tremadocian (Early Ordovician, about 480 Ma) assemblage with elements of both Cambrian and younger embryophyte spores that provides a new level of evolutionary continuity between embryophytes and their algal ancestors. This finding suggests that the molecular phylogenetic signal retains a latent evolutionary history of the acquisition of the embryophytic developmental genome, a history that perhaps began during Ediacaran-Cambrian time but was not completed until the mid-Silurian (about 430 Ma).

scholarly journals Environmental controls on the increasing GPP of terrestrial vegetation across northern Eurasia

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-62 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Dass ◽  
M. A. Rawlins ◽  
J. S. Kimball ◽  
Y. Kim
Keyword(s):  
Forest Fires ◽  
Environmental Control ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽  
Northern Eurasia ◽  
Terrestrial Vegetation ◽  
The South ◽  
Environmental Controls ◽  
Significant Negative Impact

Abstract. Terrestrial ecosystems of northern Eurasia are demonstrating an increasing gross primary productivity (GPP), yet few studies have provided definitive attribution for the changes. While prior studies point to increasing temperatures as the principle environmental control, influences from moisture and other factors are less clear. We assess how changes in temperature, precipitation, cloudiness, and forest fires individually contribute to changes in GPP derived from satellite data across northern Eurasia using a light-use- efficiency-based model, for the period 1982–2010. We find that annual satellite-derived GPP is most sensitive to the temperature, precipitation and cloudiness of summer, which is the peak of the growing season and also the period of the year when the GPP trend is maximum. Considering the regional median, the summer temperature explains as much as 37.7 % of the variation in annual GPP, while precipitation and cloudiness explain 20.7 and 19.3 %. Warming over the period analysed, even without a sustained increase in precipitation, led to a significant positive impact on GPP for 61.7 % of the region. However, a significant negative impact on GPP was also found, for 2.4 % of the region, primarily the dryer grasslands in the south-west of the study area. For this region, precipitation positively correlates with GPP, as does cloudiness. This shows that the south-western part of northern Eurasia is relatively more vulnerable to drought than other areas. While our results further advance the notion that air temperature is the dominant environmental control for recent GPP increases across northern Eurasia, the role of precipitation and cloudiness can not be ignored.

Tracking Species in Space and Time: Assessing the Relationships Between Paleobiogeography, Paleoecology, and Macroevolution

2008 ◽  
Vol 14 ◽  
pp. 233-248 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alycia L. Stigall
Keyword(s):  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Geographic Range ◽  
Individual Species ◽  
Species Ranges ◽  
Speciation Rate ◽  
Biogeographic Patterns ◽  
Environmental Controls ◽  
Historical Factors ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

In all species, geographic range is constrained by a combination of ecological and historical factors. Ecological factors relate to the species' niche, its environmental or biotic limits in multidimensional space, while historical factors pertain to a species' ancestry, specifically the location at which a species evolved. Historical limitations are primary during speciation, while ecological factors control the subsequent expansion and contraction of species range. By assessing biogeographic changes during the lifespan of individual species, we can assess the relationship between paleobiogeography, paleoecology, and macroevolution. Quantitative paleobiogeographic analyses, especially those using GIS-based and phylogenetic methods, provide a framework to rigorously test hypotheses about the relationship between species ranges, biotic turnover, and paleoecology. These new tools provide a way to assess key questions about the co-evolution of life and earth. Changes in biogeographic patterns, reconstructed at the species level, can provide key information for interpreting macroevolutionary dynamics–particularly speciation mode (vicariance vs. dispersal) and speciation rate during key intervals of macroevolutionary change (biodiversity crises, widespread invasion events, and adaptive radiations). Furthermore, species ranges can be reconstructed using ecological niche modeling methods to examine the effects of environmental controls on geographic range shifts. Particularly fruitful areas of investigation in future paleobiogeographic analysis include (1) the relationship between species ranges and speciation events/mode, (2) relationship between shifting ecological regimes and range expansion and contraction, (3) the impact of interbasinal species invasions on both community structure and macroevolutionary dynamics, (4) the mechanics of transitions between endemic to cosmopolitan faunas at local, regional, and global scales, (5) how ecology and geographic range impacts species extinction during both background and crisis intervals.Three case studies are presented to illustrate both the methods and utility of this theoretical approach of using paleobiogeographic patterns to assess macroevolutionary dynamics. The first case study examines paleobiogeographic patterns in shallow marine invertebrates during the Late Devonian Biodiversity Crisis. During this interval, speciation by vicariance declined precipitously and only species exhibiting expanding geographic ranges survived the crisis interval. Patterns of biogeographic change during the Late Ordovician Richmondian invasion (Cincinnati Arch region) reveal similar patterns; speciation rate declines during invasion intervals and widely distributed endemic species are best able to survive in the new invasive regime. Phylogenetic biogeographic patterns during the Miocene radiation of North American horses suggest climatic parameters were important determinants of speciation and dispersal patterns.

scholarly journals Evolutionary history and palaeoecology of brown bear in North-East Siberia re-examined using ancient DNA and stable isotopes from skeletal remains

2019 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alba Rey-Iglesia ◽  
Ana García-Vázquez ◽  
Eve C. Treadaway ◽  
Johannes van der Plicht ◽  
Gennady F. Baryshnikov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotopes ◽  
Ancient Dna ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Brown Bear ◽  
Skeletal Remains ◽  
East Siberia ◽  
North East

scholarly journals Form–function relationships in dragonfly mandibles under an evolutionary perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (128) ◽  
pp. 20161038 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Blanke ◽  
Helmut Schmitz ◽  
Alessandra Patera ◽  
Hugo Dutel ◽  
Michael J. Fagan
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Biomechanical Analysis ◽  
Joint Mechanics ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Performance Space ◽  
Taxonomic Level ◽  
Shared Ancestry ◽  
Phenotypic Diversification ◽  
Joint Parameters

Functional requirements may constrain phenotypic diversification or foster it. For insect mouthparts, the quantification of the relationship between shape and function in an evolutionary framework remained largely unexplored. Here, the question of a functional influence on phenotypic diversification for dragonfly mandibles is assessed with a large-scale biomechanical analysis covering nearly all anisopteran families, using finite element analysis in combination with geometric morphometrics. A constraining effect of phylogeny could be found for shape, the mandibular mechanical advantage (MA), and certain mechanical joint parameters, while stresses and strains, the majority of joint parameters and size are influenced by shared ancestry. Furthermore, joint mechanics are correlated with neither strain nor mandibular MA and size effects have virtually play no role for shape or mechanical variation. The presence of mandibular strengthening ridges shows no phylogenetic signal except for one ridge peculiar to Libelluloidea, and ridge presence is also not correlated with each other. The results suggest that functional traits are more variable at this taxonomic level and that they are not influenced by shared ancestry. At the same time, the results contradict the widespread idea that mandibular morphology mainly reflects functional demands at least at this taxonomic level. The varying functional factors rather lead to the same mandibular performance as expressed by the MA, which suggests a many-to-one mapping of the investigated parameters onto the same narrow mandibular performance space.

scholarly journals Evolutionary heritage influences Amazon tree ecology

2016 ◽  
Vol 283 (1844) ◽  
pp. 20161587 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fernanda Coelho de Souza ◽  
Kyle G. Dexter ◽  
Oliver L. Phillips ◽  
Roel J. W. Brienen ◽  
Jerome Chave ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Life History ◽  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Phylogenetic Signal ◽  
Life History Strategies ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Life History Variation ◽  
Trait Variation ◽  
Closed Canopy ◽  
Repeated Evolution

Lineages tend to retain ecological characteristics of their ancestors through time. However, for some traits, selection during evolutionary history may have also played a role in determining trait values. To address the relative importance of these processes requires large-scale quantification of traits and evolutionary relationships among species. The Amazonian tree flora comprises a high diversity of angiosperm lineages and species with widely differing life-history characteristics, providing an excellent system to investigate the combined influences of evolutionary heritage and selection in determining trait variation. We used trait data related to the major axes of life-history variation among tropical trees (e.g. growth and mortality rates) from 577 inventory plots in closed-canopy forest, mapped onto a phylogenetic hypothesis spanning more than 300 genera including all major angiosperm clades to test for evolutionary constraints on traits. We found significant phylogenetic signal (PS) for all traits, consistent with evolutionarily related genera having more similar characteristics than expected by chance. Although there is also evidence for repeated evolution of pioneer and shade tolerant life-history strategies within independent lineages, the existence of significant PS allows clearer predictions of the links between evolutionary diversity, ecosystem function and the response of tropical forests to global change.

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