scholarly journals Diversification rates and phenotypic evolution in venomous snakes (Elapidae)

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 150277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael S. Y. Lee ◽  
Kate L. Sanders ◽  
Benedict King ◽  
Alessandro Palci
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Phylogenetic Trees ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Passerine Birds ◽  
Size Change ◽  
Background Rate ◽  
Venomous Snakes ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Speciation Rates ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between rates of diversification and of body size change (a common proxy for phenotypic evolution) was investigated across Elapidae, the largest radiation of highly venomous snakes. Time-calibrated phylogenetic trees for 175 species of elapids (more than 50% of known taxa) were constructed using seven mitochondrial and nuclear genes. Analyses using these trees revealed no evidence for a link between speciation rates and changes in body size. Two clades ( Hydrophis , Micrurus ) show anomalously high rates of diversification within Elapidae, yet exhibit rates of body size evolution almost identical to the general elapid ‘background’ rate. Although correlations between speciation rates and rates of body size change exist in certain groups (e.g. ray-finned fishes, passerine birds), the two processes appear to be uncoupled in elapid snakes. There is also no detectable shift in diversification dynamics associated with the colonization of Australasia, which is surprising given that elapids appear to be the first clade of venomous snakes to reach the continent.

scholarly journals Rapid action in the Palaeogene, the relationship between phenotypic and taxonomic diversification in Coenozoic mammals

2013 ◽  
Vol 280 (1750) ◽  
pp. 20122244 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Raia ◽  
F. Carotenuto ◽  
F. Passaro ◽  
P. Piras ◽  
D. Fulgione ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Resource Utilization ◽  
Evolutionary Biology ◽  
Species Level ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Diversification Rates ◽  
Rapid Action ◽  
Hierarchic Level ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Size Estimates

A classic question in evolutionary biology concerns the tempo and mode of lineage evolution. Considered variously in relation to resource utilization, intrinsic constraints or hierarchic level, the question of how evolutionary change occurs in general has continued to draw the attention of the field for over a century and a half. Here we use the largest species-level phylogeny of Coenozoic fossil mammals (1031 species) ever assembled and their body size estimates, to show that body size and taxonomic diversification rates declined from the origin of placentals towards the present, and very probably correlate to each other. These findings suggest that morphological and taxic diversifications of mammals occurred hierarchically, with major shifts in body size coinciding with the birth of large clades, followed by taxonomic diversification within these newly formed clades. As the clades expanded, rates of taxonomic diversification proceeded independently of phenotypic evolution. Such a dynamic is consistent with the idea, central to the Modern Synthesis, that mammals radiated adaptively, with the filling of adaptive zones following the radiation.

scholarly journals Quantitative genetics of body size evolution on islands: an individual-based simulation approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (10) ◽  
pp. 20190481 ◽  
Author(s):  
José Alexandre F. Diniz-Filho ◽  
Lucas Jardim ◽  
Thiago F. Rangel ◽  
Phillip B. Holden ◽  
Neil R. Edwards ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Quantitative Genetics ◽  
Evolutionary Genetics ◽  
Simulation Approach ◽  
Island Rule ◽  
Size Change ◽  
Evolutionary Patterns ◽  
New Developments ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Individual Based Simulation

According to the island rule, small-bodied vertebrates will tend to evolve larger body size on islands, whereas the opposite happens to large-bodied species. This controversial pattern has been studied at the macroecological and biogeographical scales, but new developments in quantitative evolutionary genetics now allow studying the island rule from a mechanistic perspective. Here, we develop a simulation approach based on an individual-based model to model body size change on islands as a progressive adaptation to a moving optimum, determined by density-dependent population dynamics. We applied the model to evaluate body size differentiation in the pigmy extinct hominin Homo floresiensis, showing that dwarfing may have occurred in only about 360 generations (95% CI ranging from 150 to 675 generations). This result agrees with reports suggesting rapid dwarfing of large mammals on islands, as well as with the recent discovery that small-sized hominins lived in Flores as early as 700 kyr ago. Our simulations illustrate the power of analysing ecological and evolutionary patterns from an explicit quantitative genetics perspective.

scholarly journals Accelerated body size evolution during cold climatic periods in the Cenozoic

2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (16) ◽  
pp. 4183-4188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julien Clavel ◽  
Hélène Morlon
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Biotic Interactions ◽  
Morphological Diversity ◽  
Evolutionary Rates ◽  
Phenotypic Evolution ◽  
Geological Time ◽  
Radiation Theory ◽  
Extant Species ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Body Size Evolution

How ecological and morphological diversity accumulates over geological time is much debated. Adaptive radiation theory has been successful in testing the effects of biotic interactions on the rapid divergence of phenotypes within a clade, but this theory ignores abiotic effects. The role of abiotic drivers on the tempo of phenotypic evolution has been tested only in a few lineages or small clades from the fossil record. Here, we develop a phylogenetic comparative framework for testing if and how clade-wide rates of phenotypic evolution vary with abiotic drivers. We apply this approach to comprehensive bird and mammal phylogenies, body size data for 9,465 extant species, and global average temperature trends over the Cenozoic. Across birds and mammals, we find that the rate of body size evolution is primarily driven by past climate. Unexpectedly, evolutionary rates are inferred to be higher during periods of cold rather than warm climates in most groups, suggesting that temperature influences evolutionary rates by modifying selective pressures rather than through its effect on energy availability and metabolism. The effect of climate on the rate of body size evolution seems to be a general feature of endotherm evolution, regardless of wide differences in species’ ecology and evolutionary history. These results suggest that climatic changes played a major role in shaping species’ evolution in the past and could also play a major role in shaping their evolution in the future.

Do Speciation Rates Drive Rates of Body Size Evolution in Mammals?

2009 ◽  
Vol 174 (6) ◽  
pp. 912-918 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie J. Monroe ◽  
Folmer Bokma
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Speciation Rates ◽  
Body Size Evolution

scholarly journals Fitting macroevolutionary models to phylogenies: an example using vertebrate body sizes

1998 ◽  
Vol 68 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arne Ø. Mooers ◽  
Dolph Schluter
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Family Level ◽  
Free Model ◽  
Body Sizes ◽  
Body Size Evolution ◽  
Species Specific ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Best Fit

How do traits change through time and with speciation? We present a simple and generally applicable method for comparing various models of the macroevolution of traits within a maximum likelihood framework. We illustrate four such models: 1) variance among species accumulates in direct proportion to time separating them (gradual model); 2) variation accumulates with the number of speciation events separating them (speciational model); 3) differences between species are unrelated to phylogenetic relatedness (pitchfork model); and 4) a free model where the trait evolves at its own idiosyncratic rate among lineages. Using species-specific body size, we compare the four models across two data sets: twenty-one clades of vertebrate species, and two clades of bird families. For the twenty-one vertebrate trees, the pitchfork model is most successful, though not significantly, and the most successful by far for the youngest clades. The speciational model seems to be preferred for older clades. For both clades of bird families, the speciational model offers the best fit to family-level body size evolution. However, the pitchfork model does much worse for one clade than for the other, suggesting a difference in the relationship between diversification and body-size evolution in the two groups. These examples highlight some possibilities afforded by this simple approach.

scholarly journals Limited male incubation ability and the evolution of egg size in shorebirds

2006 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terje Lislevand ◽  
Gavin H Thomas
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Egg Size ◽  
Sexual Size Dimorphism ◽  
Bird Species ◽  
Male Body ◽  
Size Dimorphism ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Female Body Mass ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Relationship

In bird species where males incubate but are smaller than females, egg size may be constrained by male body size, and hence ability to incubate the eggs. Using data from 71 such shorebird species, we show that egg size decreases as the degree of female-biased sexual size dimorphism increases, after controlling for female body mass. Relative egg size was not related to mean clutch size. However, when controlling for mating system, the relationship between female-biased sexual size dimorphism and relative egg size was only significant in polyandrous species. The relatively small eggs of socially polyandrous shorebirds have previously been explained as an energy-saving strategy associated with the production of multiple clutches. Our findings suggest that egg size evolution is better explained by male incubation limitation in these birds.

scholarly journals Shrinking of fish under warmer temperatures decrease dispersal abilities and speciation rates

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Avaria-Llautureo ◽  
Chris Venditti ◽  
Marcelo M. Rivadeneira ◽  
Oscar Inostroza-Michael ◽  
Reinaldo J. Rivera ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Warming ◽  
Body Size ◽  
Small Fish ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
High Speeds ◽  
Phylogenetic Methods ◽  
Size Evolution ◽  
Speciation Rates ◽  
Dispersal Abilities ◽  
Global Biodiversity

There is an ongoing debate as to whether fish body size will decrease with global warming and how body size changes may impact dispersal abilities and speciation rates. Although theory predicts that, when fish face warmer temperatures, they grow to smaller adult sizes, see a reduction in their ability to move, and increase their probability of speciation, evaluations of such predictions are hampered owing to the lack of empirical data spanning both wide temporal and geographical scales. Here, using phylogenetic methods, temperature, and 21,895 occurrences for 158 worldwide-distributed species of fish, we show that smaller fish have occurred in warmer waters for over 150 million years and across marine and freshwater realms. Smaller fish have historically moved the shortest distances and at low speeds. In addition, small fish display the lowest probability of giving rise to new species. Further, we found that species of fish that displayed high speeds of geographical movement and rates of size evolution experienced higher rates of temperature change in their lineage. Taking these results together, global warming predicts a future where smaller fish that have reduced ability to move over aquatic systems will be more prevalent, in turn, this will result in fewer species contributing global biodiversity.

HOLOCENE LAND SNAIL BODY SIZE CHANGE IN ALGERIA, NW AFRICA, AND ITS POSSIBLE CAUSES

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nora Soto ◽  
◽  
Yurena Yanes ◽  
David Lubell
Keyword(s):  
Body Size ◽  
Land Snail ◽  
Size Change
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