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Trophic niche shifts and phenotypic trait evolution are largely decoupled in Australasian parrots2.48 MB
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open Access
Published (Version of record)CC BY V4.0, Open
Journal article
Trophic niche shifts and phenotypic trait evolution are largely decoupled in Australasian parrots
BMC Ecology and Evolution, Vol.21(1), 212
27/11/2021
PMID: 34837943
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Abstract
Background: Trophic shifts from one dietary niche to another have played major roles in reshaping the evolutionary trajectories of a wide range of vertebrate groups, yet their consequences for morphological disparity and species diversity differ among groups.
Methods: Here, we use phylogenetic comparative methods to examine whether the evolution of nectarivory and other trophic shifts have driven predictable evolutionary pathways in Australasian psittaculid parrots in terms of ecological traits such as body size, beak shape, and dispersal capacity.
Results: We found no evidence for an ‘early-burst’ scenario of lineage or morphological diversification. The best-fitting models indicate that trait evolution in this group is characterized by abrupt phenotypic shifts (evolutionary jumps), with no sign of multiple phenotypic optima correlating with different trophic strategies. Thus, our results point to the existence of weak directional selection and suggest that lineages may be evolving randomly or slowly toward adaptive peaks they have not yet reached.
Conclusions: This study adds to a growing body of evidence indicating that the relationship between avian morphology and feeding ecology may be more complex than usually assumed and highlights the importance of adding more flexible models to the macroevolutionary toolbox.
Details
- Title
- Trophic niche shifts and phenotypic trait evolution are largely decoupled in Australasian parrots
- Creators
- Vicente García-Navas - University of ZurichJoseph A Tobias - Imperial College LondonManuel Schweizer - Natural History Museum of BernDaniel Wegmann - University of FribourgRichard Schodde - CSIROJanette A Norman - Southern Cross UniversityLes Christidis - Southern Cross University
- Publication Details
- BMC Ecology and Evolution, Vol.21(1), 212
- Publisher
- BioMed Central Ltd.
- Identifiers
- 991012980198802368
- Copyright
- © The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data
- Academic Unit
- Faculty of Science and Engineering; Graduate School; Office of Senior Deputy Vice Chancellor, Research
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article