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139 results for “Body size evolution”
Data from: The little fishes that could: smaller fishes demonstrate slow body size evolution but faster speciation in the family Percidae
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Data from: Diversifying selection drives parallel evolution of gill raker number and body size along the speciation continuum of European whitefish
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Data from: Largest-known fossil penguin provides insight into the early evolution of sphenisciform body size and flipper anatomy
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Data from: Crocodylomorph cranial shape evolution and its relationship with body size and ecology
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Data from: Time-limited environments affect the evolution of egg - body size allometry
Initial offspring size is a fundamental component of absolute growth rate, where large offspring will reach a given adult body size faster than smaller offspring. Yet, our knowledge regarding the co-evolution between offspring and adult size is limited. In time-constrained environments, organisms need to reproduce at a high rate and reach a reproductive size quickly. In order to rapidly attain a large adult body size, we hypothesize that, in seasonal habitats, large species are bound to having a large initial size, and consequently, the evolution of egg size will be tightly matched to that of body size, compared to less time-limited systems. We tested this hypothesis in killifishes, and found a significantly steeper allometric relationship between egg size and body size in annual, compared to non-annual species. We also found higher rates of evolution of egg and body size in annual compared to non-annual species. Our results suggest that time-constrained environments impose strong selection on rapidly reaching a species-specific body size, and reproduce at a high rate, which in turn imposes constraints on the evolution of egg sizes. In combination, these distinct selection pressures result in different relationships between egg and body size among species in time-constrained versus permanent habitats.
Data from: Impacts of genetic correlation on the independent evolution of body mass and skeletal size in mammals
Mammals show a predictable scaling relationship between limb bone size and body mass. This relationship has a genetic basis which likely evolved via natural selection but it is unclear how much the genetic correlation between these traits in turn impacts their capacity to evolve independently. We selectively bred laboratory mice for increases in tibia length independent of body mass to test the hypothesis that a genetic correlation with body mass constrains evolutionary change in tibia length. Over 14 generations we produced mean tibia length increases of 11-12% while mean body mass was unchanged in selectively bred mice and random-bred controls. Using evolutionary scenarios with different selection and quantitative genetic parameters we also found that this genetic correlation impedes the rate of evolutionary change in both traits slowing increases in tibia length while preventing decreases in body mass despite the latter's negative effect on fitness. Overall results from this ongoing selection experiment suggest that parallel evolution of relatively longer hind limbs among rodents for example in the context of strong competition for resources and niche partitioning in heterogeneous environments may have occurred very rapidly on geological timescales in spite of the genetic correlation between tibia length and body mass.
Data from: Body size affects the evolution of hidden colour signals in moths
Many cryptic prey have also evolved hidden contrasting colour signals which are displayed to would-be predators. Given that these hidden contrasting signals may confer additional survival benefits to the prey by startling/intimidating predators, it is unclear why they have evolved in some species, but not in others. Here, we have conducted a comparative phylogenetic analysis of the evolution of colour traits in the family Erebidae (Lepidoptera), and found that the hidden contrasting colour signals are more likely to be found in larger species. To understand why this relationship occurs, we present a general mathematical model, demonstrating that selection for a secondary defence such as deimatic display will be stronger in large species when (i) the primary defence (crypsis) is likely to fail as its body size increases and/or (ii) the secondary defence is more effective in large prey. To test the model assumptions, we conducted behavioural experiments using a robotic moth which revealed that survivorship advantages were higher against wild birds when the moth has contrasting hindwings and large size. Collectively, our results suggest that the evolutionary association between large size and hidden contrasting signals has been driven by a combination of the need for a back-up defence and its efficacy.
Data from: The impact of phylogenetic dating method on interpreting trait evolution: a case study of Cretaceous–Palaeogene eutherian body-size evolution
The fossil record of the earliest Cenozoic contains the first large-bodied placental mammals. Several evolutionary models have been invoked to explain the transition from small to large body sizes, but methods for determining evolutionary mode of trait change depend on input from tree topology and divergence dates. Different dating methods may therefore affect inference of evolutionary model. Here, we fit models of body mass evolution onto dated phylogenies of Cretaceous and Palaeogene mammals, comparing the effect of dating method on interpretation of evolutionary model. Among traditional palaeontological dating approaches, an Ornstein–Uhlenbeck model with high alpha parameters is recovered as best-fitting when minimum-age dating is used, while branch-sharing methods are highly sensitive to topology. Release or release–radiate models are preferred when Bayesian fossilized birth–death method is used, but when using stochastic cal3 dating of trees, a model of increased evolutionary rate without a release in constraint at the Cretaceous–Palaeogene boundary has highest support. These results demonstrate unambiguously that choice of dating method is critical for interpretation of continuous trait evolution, and that care must therefore be taken to consider these effects in macroevolutionary studies.
Data from: Classification tree methods provide a multifactorial approach to predicting insular body size evolution in rodents
Many hypotheses have been proposed to explain size changes in insular mammals, but no single variable suffices to explain the diversity of responses, particularly within Rodentia. Here in a dataset on insular rodents we observe strong consistency in the direction of size change within islands and within species, but (outside of Heteromyidae) little consistency at broader taxonomic scales. Using traits of islands and of species in a classification-tree analysis we find the most important factor predicting direction of change to be mainland body mass (large rodents decrease, small ones increase); other variables (island climate, number of rodent species, and area) were significant although their roles as revealed by the classification tree were context-dependent. Ecological interactions appear relatively uninformative, and on any given island the largest and smallest rodent species converged or diverged in size with equal frequency. Our approach provides a promising framework for continuing examination of insular body-size evolution.
Data from: Phylogenetic evidence for a shift in the mode of mammalian body size evolution at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary
NOTE: Please also see Slater (2014) published in Methods in Ecology and Evolution at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/2041-210X.12201 1. Phylogenetic comparative methods provide a powerful way of addressing classic questions about tempo and mode of phenotypic evolution in the fossil record, such as whether mammals increased in body size diversity after the Cretaceous-Paleogene (K-Pg) extinction. 2. Most often, these kinds of questions are addressed in the context of variation in evolutionary rates. Shifts in the mode of phenotypic evolution provides an alternative and, in some cases, more realistic explanation for patterns of trait diversity in the fossil record but these kinds of processes are rarely tested for. 3. In this study, I use a time-calibrated phylogeny of living and fossil Mammaliaformes as a framework to test novel models of body size evolution derived from paleontological theory. Specifically, I ask whether the K-Pg extinction resulted in a change in rates of body size evolution or release from a constrained adaptive zone. 4. I found that a model comprising an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process until the K-Pg event and a Brownian motion process from the Cenozoic onwards was the best supported model for these data. Surprisingly, results indicate a lower absolute rate of body size evolution during the Cenozoic than during the Mesozoic. This is explained by release from a stationary OU process that constrained realized disparity. Despite a lower absolute rate, body size disparity has in fact been increasing since the K-Pg event 5. The use of time-calibrated phylogenies of living and extinct taxa and realistic, process-based models provides unparalleled power in testing evolutionary hypotheses. However, researchers should take care to ensure that the models they use are appropriate to the question being tested, and that the parameters estimated are intepreted in the context of the best-fitting model.
Data from: Synergism and antagonism of proximate mechanisms enable and constrain the response to simultaneous selection on body size and development time: an empirical test using experimental evolution
Natural selection acts on multiple traits simultaneously. How mechanisms underlying such traits enable or constrain their response to simultaneous selection is poorly understood. We show how antagonism and synergism among three traits at the developmental level enable or constrain evolutionary change in response to simultaneous selection on two focal traits at the phenotypic level. After 10 generations of 25% simultaneous directional selection on all four combinations of body size and development time in Manduca sexta (Sphingidae), the changes in the three developmental traits predict 93% of the response of development time and 100% of the response of body size. When the two focal traits were under synergistic selection, the response to simultaneous selection was enabled by juvenile hormone and ecdysteroids and constrained by growth rate. When the two focal traits were under antagonistic selection, the response to selection was due primarily to change in growth rate and constrained by the two hormonal traits. The approach used here reduces the complexity of the developmental and endocrine mechanisms to three proxy traits. This generates explicit predictions for the evolutionary response to selection that are based on biologically informed mechanisms. This approach has broad applicability to a diverse range of taxa, including algae, plants, amphibians, mammals, and insects.
Data from: Evolution of size-dependent intraspecific competition predicts body size scaling of metabolic rate
1. Growth in body size is accompanied by changes in foraging capacity and metabolic costs, which lead to changes in competitive ability during ontogeny. The resulting size-dependent competitive asymmetry influences population dynamics and community structure, but it is not clear whether natural selection leads to asymmetry in intraspecific competition. 2. We address this question by using a size-structured consumer-resource model, in which the strength and direction of competitive asymmetry between different consumer individuals depends on the scaling of maximum ingestion and maintenance metabolism with consumer body size. We use adaptive dynamics to study selection on the scaling exponents of these processes. 3. Selection leads to an identical scaling of maximum ingestion and maintenance metabolism with consumer body size. Equal scaling exponents neutralise strong competitive differences within the consumer population, because all consumer individuals require the same amount of resources to cover maintenance requirements. Furthermore, the scaling exponents respond adaptively to changes in mortality such that biomass production through growth or reproduction increases in the life stage that is subject to increased mortality. Also, decreasing size at birth leads to increased investment in juvenile growth, while increasing maximum size leads to increased investment in post-maturation growth and reproduction. 4. These results provide an explanation for observed variation in the ontogenetic scaling of metabolic rate with body size. Data of teleost fish are presented that support these predictions. However, selection towards equal scaling exponents is contradicted by empirical findings, which suggests that additional ecological complexity beyond this basic consumer-resource interaction is required to understand the evolution of size-dependent asymmetry in intraspecific competition.
Data and Code Files for Dalponti et al. Climate Affects the Correlated Evolution of Body Size and Trophic Position in Fishes
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Global latitudinal gradients and the evolution of body size in dinosaurs and mammals
<p>Supplementary materials for Wilson et al., 'Global latitudinal gradients and the evolution of body size in dinosaurs and mammals'. </p>
Functional and ecomorphological evolution of orbit shape in Mesozoic archosaurs is driven by body size and diet: Geometric morphometric data, 3D models (stl files), FEA models (Hypermesh, Abaqus files)
<p class="MsoNormal">The orbit is one of several skull openings in the archosauromorph skull. Intuitively, it could be assumed that orbit shape would closely approximate the shape and size of the eyeball resulting in a predominantly circular morphology. However, a quantification of orbit shape across Archosauromorpha using a geometric morphometric approach demonstrates a large morphological diversity despite the fact that the majority of species retained a circular orbit. This morphological diversity is nearly exclusively driven by large (skull length > 1000 mm) and carnivorous species in all studied archosauromorph groups, but particularly prominently in theropod dinosaurs. While circular orbit shapes are retained in most herbivores and smaller species, as well as in juveniles and early ontogenetic stages, large carnivores adopted elliptical and keyhole-shaped orbits. Biomechanical modeling using finite element analysis reveals that these morphologies are beneficial in mitigating and dissipating feeding-induced stresses without additional reinforcement of the bony structure of the skull.</p>
Data from: Cope's rule and the adaptive landscape of dinosaur body size evolution
The largest known dinosaurs weighed at least 20 million times as much as the smallest, indicating exceptional phenotypic divergence. Previous studies have focused on extreme giant sizes, tests of Cope's rule, and miniaturization on the line leading to birds. We use non-uniform macroevolutionary models based on Ornstein–Uhlenbeck and trend processes to unify these observations, asking: what patterns of evolutionary rates, directionality and constraint explain the diversification of dinosaur body mass? We find that dinosaur evolution is constrained by attraction to discrete body size optima that undergo rare, but abrupt, evolutionary shifts. This model explains both the rarity of multi-lineage directional trends, and the occurrence of abrupt directional excursions during the origins of groups such as tiny pygostylian birds and giant sauropods. Most expansion of trait space results from rare, constraint-breaking innovations in just a small number of lineages. These lineages shifted rapidly into novel regions of trait space, occasionally to small sizes, but most often to large or giant sizes. As with Cenozoic mammals, intermediate body sizes were typically attained only transiently by lineages on a trajectory from small to large size. This demonstrates that bimodality in the macroevolutionary adaptive landscape for land vertebrates has existed for more than 200 million years.
Data from: Body size evolution in mammals: complexity in tempo and mode
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Data from: Phylogenetic evidence for a shift in the mode of mammalian body size evolution at the Cretaceous-Paleogene boundary
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Functional and ecomorphological evolution of orbit shape in Mesozoic archosaurs is driven by body size and diet: Geometric morphometric data, 3D models (stl files), FEA models (Hypermesh, Abaqus files)
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Data from: Cope’s rule and the adaptive landscape of dinosaur body size evolution
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