Convergent morphological responses to loss of flight in rails (Aves: Rallidae)
| Autor: | Steve A. Trewick, Gillian C. Gibb, Julien Gaspar |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2020 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Sterna island ecology Morphology (biology) Biology 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences 03 medical and health sciences Phylogenetics lcsh:QH540-549.5 evolution Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 030304 developmental biology Nature and Landscape Conservation Original Research flightlessness 0303 health sciences Ecology Phylogenetic tree morphological convergence Rallidae biology.organism_classification Taxon Order (biology) Evolutionary biology birds lcsh:Ecology Adaptation Island ecology |
| Zdroj: | Ecology and Evolution, Vol 10, Iss 13, Pp 6186-6207 (2020) Ecology and Evolution |
| ISSN: | 2045-7758 |
| Popis: | The physiological demands of flight exert strong selection pressure on avian morphology and so it is to be expected that the evolutionary loss of flight capacity would involve profound changes in traits. Here, we investigate morphological consequences of flightlessness in a bird family where the condition has evolved repeatedly. The Rallidae include more than 130 recognized species of which over 30 are flightless. Morphological and molecular phylogenetic data were used here to compare species with and without the ability to fly in order to determine major phenotypic effects of the transition from flighted to flightless. We find statistical support for similar morphological response among unrelated flightless lineages, characterized by a shift in energy allocation from the forelimbs to the hindlimbs. Indeed, flightless birds exhibit smaller sterna and wings than flighted taxa in the same family along with wider pelves and more robust femora. Phylogenetic signal tests demonstrate that those differences are independent of phylogeny and instead demonstrate convergent morphological adaptation associated with a walking ecology. We found too that morphological variation was greater among flightless rails than flighted ones, suggesting that relaxation of physiological demands during the transition to flightlessness frees morphological traits to evolve in response to more varied ecological opportunities. This study investigated the consequences of the evolution of flightlessness in birds from the Rallidae family. The results show similar morphological responses within the flightless species with a shift in energy allocation from the forelimbs to the hindlimbs. By testing the phylogenetic signal, this research proves that the differences between flightless and flighted birds are not an effect of the phylogeny but reflect a morphological convergent adaptation to the loss of flight. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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