Size as a complex trait and the scaling relationships of its components across teleosts

Alencar, Laura R. V.; Hodge, Jennifer R.; Friedman, Sarah T.; Wainwright, Peter C.; Price, Samantha A.

doi:10.1007/s10682-022-10177-6

Cited by 10 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 73 publications

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“…This is true only for “isomorphic” organisms that have the same body shape regardless of body size. In non-isomorphic organisms, spatial dimensions may not be proportionate with one another (e.g., [ 126 ]). As length increases, width and height may change disproportionately if an organism grows by elongating, flattening, or thickening its body.…”

Section: Major Ways That Time May Be Relevant In Biological Scalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relevance of Time in Biological Scaling

Glazier

2023

Biology

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Various phenotypic traits relate to the size of a living system in regular but often disproportionate (allometric) ways. These “biological scaling” relationships have been studied by biologists for over a century, but their causes remain hotly debated. Here, I focus on the patterns and possible causes of the body-mass scaling of the rates/durations of various biological processes and life-history events, i.e., the “pace of life”. Many biologists have regarded the rate of metabolism or energy use as the master driver of the “pace of life” and its scaling with body size. Although this “energy perspective” has provided valuable insight, here I argue that a “time perspective” may be equally or even more important. I evaluate various major ways that time may be relevant in biological scaling, including as (1) an independent “fourth dimension” in biological dimensional analyses, (2) a universal “biological clock” that synchronizes various biological rates/durations, (3) a scaling method that uses various biological time periods (allochrony) as scaling metrics, rather than various measures of physical size (allometry), as traditionally performed, (4) an ultimate body-size-related constraint on the rates/timing of biological processes/events that is set by the inevitability of death, and (5) a geological “deep time” approach for viewing the evolution of biological scaling patterns. Although previously proposed universal four-dimensional space-time and “biological clock” views of biological scaling are problematic, novel approaches using allochronic analyses and time perspectives based on size-related rates of individual mortality and species origination/extinction may provide new valuable insights.

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Section: Major Ways That Time May Be Relevant In Biological Scalingmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Relevance of Time in Biological Scaling

Glazier

2023

Biology

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“…Allometry can be an important factor to understanding both the biology of an organism and biological diversity in general (e.g., Sherratt et al, 2022). As an example, recent studies indicate that body size can be an important trait related to the morphological evolution of bony fishes (Alencar et al, 2022). Allometry can operate at three hierarchical biological levels, which are not necessary coupled: ontogenetic (morphological changes during the development of an individual), static (differences among individuals of the same species, at the same ontogenetic stage), and evolutionary (differences among species) (e.g., Gould, 1966;Sherratt et al, 2022).…”

Section: Allometry Versus Isometry In Coelacanthsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reconstructing an ancient fish: Three‐dimensional skeletal restoration of the head of Mawsonia (Sarcopterygii, Actinistia) using CT scan, and an adjusted model for body size estimation in fossil coelacanths

Toriño,

Dutel,

Soto

et al. 2024

Journal of Anatomy

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Mawsonia constitutes one of the most conspicuous fossil coelacanth taxa, due to its unique anatomy and possible maximum body size. It typifies Mesozoic coelacanth morphology, before the putative disappearance of the group in the fossil record. In this work, the three‐dimensional cranial anatomy and body size estimations of this genus are re‐evaluated from a recently described specimen from Upper Jurassic deposits of Uruguay. The 3D restoration was performed directly on the material based on anatomical information provided by the living coelacanth Latimeria and previous two‐dimensional restorations of the head of Mawsonia. The montage was then scanned with computed tomography and virtually adjusted to generate an interactive online resource for future anatomical, taxonomic and biomechanical research. In general terms, the model constitutes a tool to improve both the anatomical knowledge of this genus and its comparison with other coelacanths. It also facilitates the evaluation of possible evolutionary trends and the discussion of particular features with potential palaeobiological implications, such as the anterior position of the eye and the development of the pseudomaxillary fold. Regarding the body size, a previous model for body size estimation based on the gular plate was submitted to OLS, RMA, segmented linear and PGLS regressions (including the evaluation of regression statistics, variance analysis, t‐tests and residual analysis). The results point to a power relationship between gular and total lengths showing a better support than a simple linear relationship. The new resulting equations were applied to the studied individual and are provided for future estimates. Although an isometric evolutionary growth cannot be rejected with the available evidence, additional models developed with other bones will be necessary to evaluate possible hidden evolutionary allometric trends in this group of fishes, thus avoiding overestimates.

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“…We chose to use SVL as our main metric for body size given it is a metric traditionally used by herpetologists as a proxy for size (see Feldman et al, 2016;Meiri, 2008Meiri, , 2018 and because of the inherent difficulty of obtaining body mass from preserved specimens. However, because different size metrics can potentially relate to distinct evolutionary patterns (see Alencar et al, 2022), we used family-level linear equations provided by Feldman et al (2016) and Meiri (2018) to get body mass measurements for each species, as an additional way to estimate 'body size'. We then calculated the absolute difference between the logtransformed body mass of the species comprising each pair.…”

Section: Ecological Similaritymentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographical and ecological drivers of coexistence dynamics in squamate reptiles

Alencar

Quental

2023

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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AimSpecies richness varies widely across space and is determined by underlying factors that drive species coexistence. Such factors include the speciation process (sympatric vs. allopatric), time since divergence, geographic context and intrinsic properties of the organisms. We model for the first time the coexistence dynamics of lizards and snakes across broad temporal and spatial scales, investigating whether an increase in niche divergence, dispersal abilities and inhabiting islands or continents affect their probability of coexistence.LocationGlobal.Time periodCenozoic.Major taxa studiedSquamata.MethodsWe used 447 sister species pairs, their age since divergence, their level of spatial (sympatric or allopatric) and niche overlap and geographical setting (islands or continents) to fit probabilistic models of species coexistence. We measured morphological traits to quantify niche divergence and used range and body size as proxies for dispersal ability. We applied a model‐comparison framework in lizards and snakes separately to evaluate which factors best explained their coexistence dynamics.ResultsAllopatric speciation is the main speciation mode in snakes but we did not find evidence to favour one speciation mode in lizards. In snakes, sympatric pairs tend to occur on islands and to be more different in body size. On the contrary, dispersal ability shaped the coexistence of lizards, where species were more likely to coexist when they have higher dispersal abilities.Main conclusionsDistinct patterns and mechanisms underlie species coexistence within the order Squamata. Snake coexistence is preferentially produced by secondary sympatry favoured by niche divergence and is more likely to occur in more restricted geographical settings (islands vs. continents). Coexistence in lizards is strongly influenced only by dispersal abilities, but the high heterogeneity of processes simultaneously shaping the distribution of different lizard lineages might have masked specific coexistence signals, and future work should compare coexistence dynamics between clades (e.g. families).

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Size as a complex trait and the scaling relationships of its components across teleosts

Cited by 10 publications

References 73 publications

The Relevance of Time in Biological Scaling

The Relevance of Time in Biological Scaling

Reconstructing an ancient fish: Three‐dimensional skeletal restoration of the head of Mawsonia (Sarcopterygii, Actinistia) using CT scan, and an adjusted model for body size estimation in fossil coelacanths

Geographical and ecological drivers of coexistence dynamics in squamate reptiles

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