Viviparity imparts a macroevolutionary signature of ecological opportunity in the body size of female Liolaemus lizards.

Autor: Domínguez-Guerrero SF; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 06511, New Haven, CT, USA. saul.dominguezguerrero@yale.edu., Esquerré D; School of Earth, Atmospheric and Life Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, NSW, 2522, Australia., Burress ED; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 06511, New Haven, CT, USA.; Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, AL, 35487, USA., Maciel-Mata CA; Predio Intensivo de Manejo de Vida Silvestre X-Plora Reptilia, 43350, Metztitlán, Hidalgo, México., Alencar LRV; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 06511, New Haven, CT, USA., Muñoz MM; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 06511, New Haven, CT, USA.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: Nature communications [Nat Commun] 2024 Jun 11; Vol. 15 (1), pp. 4966. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Jun 11.
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49464-x
Abstrakt: Viviparity evolved ~115 times across squamate reptiles, facilitating the colonization of cold habitats, where oviparous species are scarce or absent. Whether the ecological opportunity furnished by such colonization reconfigures phenotypic diversity and accelerates evolution is unclear. We investigated the association between viviparity and patterns and rates of body size evolution in female Liolaemus lizards, the most species-rich tetrapod genus from temperate regions. Here, we discover that viviparous species evolve ~20% larger optimal body sizes than their oviparous relatives, but exhibit similar rates of body size evolution. Through a causal modeling approach, we find that viviparity indirectly influences body size evolution through shifts in thermal environment. Accordingly, the colonization of cold habitats favors larger body sizes in viviparous species, reconfiguring body size diversity in Liolaemus. The catalyzing influence of viviparity on phenotypic evolution arises because it unlocks access to otherwise inaccessible sources of ecological opportunity, an outcome potentially repeated across the tree of life.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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