Bentho-Pelagic Divergence of Cichlid Feeding Architecture Was Prodigious and Consistent during Multiple Adaptive Radiations within African Rift-Lakes
| Autor: | R. Craig Albertson, Brittany Kern, Kevin J. Parsons, Alyssa McIntyre, Alana McGee-Moore, W. James Cooper |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2010 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Male Genetic Speciation lcsh:Medicine Fresh Water 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences Evolution Molecular 03 medical and health sciences Phylogenetics Cichlid biology.animal Ecology/Evolutionary Ecology Animals 14. Life underwater Marine and Aquatic Sciences/Evolutionary Biology lcsh:Science Alleles Phylogeny 030304 developmental biology Trophic level Morphometrics Ecological niche 0303 health sciences Evolutionary Biology Multidisciplinary Natural selection Models Statistical biology Ecology lcsh:R Skull Vertebrate Cichlids Feeding Behavior 15. Life on land biology.organism_classification Jaw Africa Calibration Evolutionary ecology lcsh:Q Research Article |
| Zdroj: | PLoS ONE PLoS ONE, Vol 5, Iss 3, p e9551 (2010) |
| ISSN: | 1932-6203 |
| Popis: | Background\ud \ud How particular changes in functional morphology can repeatedly promote ecological diversification is an active area of evolutionary investigation. The African rift-lake cichlids offer a calibrated time series of the most dramatic adaptive radiations of vertebrate trophic morphology yet described, and the replicate nature of these events provides a unique opportunity to test whether common changes in functional morphology have repeatedly facilitated their ecological success.\ud \ud Methodology/Principal Findings\ud \ud Specimens from 87 genera of cichlid fishes endemic to Lakes Tanganyka, Malawi and Victoria were dissected in order to examine the functional morphology of cichlid feeding. We quantified shape using geometric morphometrics and compared patterns of morphological diversity using a series of analytical tests. The primary axes of divergence were conserved among all three radiations, and the most prevalent changes involved the size of the preorbital region of the skull. Even the fishes from the youngest of these lakes (Victoria), which exhibit the lowest amount of skull shape disparity, have undergone extensive preorbital evolution relative to other craniofacial traits. Such changes have large effects on feeding biomechanics, and can promote expansion into a wide array of niches along a bentho-pelagic ecomorphological axis.\ud \ud Conclusions/Significance\ud \ud Here we show that specific changes in trophic anatomy have evolved repeatedly in the African rift lakes, and our results suggest that simple morphological alterations that have large ecological consequences are likely to constitute critical components of adaptive radiations in functional morphology. Such shifts may precede more complex shape changes as lineages diversify into unoccupied niches. The data presented here, combined with observations of other fish lineages, suggest that the preorbital region represents an evolutionary module that can respond quickly to natural selection when fishes colonize new lakes. Characterizing the changes in cichlid trophic morphology that have contributed to their extraordinary adaptive radiations has broad evolutionary implications, and such studies are necessary for directing future investigations into the proximate mechanisms that have shaped these spectacular phenomena. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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