Trait Evolution in Adaptive Radiations: Modeling and Measuring Interspecific Competition on Phylogenies

Clarke, Magnus; Thomas, Gavin H.; Freckleton, Robert P.

doi:10.1086/689819

Cited by 47 publications

(58 citation statements)

References 81 publications

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“…; Clarke et al . ). Here, we use fossil and extant communities to show, for the first time, that a key phenotypic trait can predict outcomes of directly observable competitive interactions: bryozoans with larger‐sized zooids are more likely to win interspecific overgrowth interactions for living space.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Relative size predicts competitive outcome through 2 million years

et al. 2017

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Competition is an important biotic interaction that influences survival and reproduction. While competition on ecological timescales has received great attention, little is known about competition on evolutionary timescales. Do competitive abilities change over hundreds of thousands to millions of years? Can we predict competitive outcomes using phenotypic traits? How much do traits that confer competitive advantage and competitive outcomes change? Here we show, using communities of encrusting marine bryozoans spanning more than 2 million years, that size is a significant determinant of overgrowth outcomes: colonies with larger zooids tend to overgrow colonies with smaller zooids. We also detected temporally coordinated changes in average zooid sizes, suggesting that different species responded to a common external driver. Although species-specific average zooid sizes change over evolutionary timescales, species-specific competitive abilities seem relatively stable, suggesting that traits other than zooid size also control overgrowth outcomes and/or that evolutionary constraints are involved.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Relative size predicts competitive outcome through 2 million years

et al. 2017

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“…Recently developed methods that incorporate the effect of species interactions when modelling trait evolution will likely reveal more subtle effects of competition (Clarke et al . ; Drury et al . ), and give further insight into if and how biotic interactions link species richness with phenotypic evolution.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits

et al. 2018

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Heterogeneity in rates of trait evolution is widespread, but it remains unclear which processes drive fast and slow character divergence across global radiations. Here, we test multiple hypotheses for explaining rate variation in an ecomorphological trait (beak shape) across a globally distributed group (birds). We find low support that variation in evolutionary rates of species is correlated with life history, environmental mutagenic factors, range size, number of competitors, or living on islands. Indeed, after controlling for the negative effect of species' age, 80% of variation in species‐specific evolutionary rates remains unexplained. At the clade level, high evolutionary rates are associated with unusual phenotypes or high species richness. Taken together, these results imply that macroevolutionary rates of ecomorphological traits are governed by both ecological opportunity in distinct adaptive zones and niche differentiation among closely related species.

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“…; Clarke et al . ). Indeed, speciation rates are often observed to be high when levels of standing diversity are low (Schluter , ; Jablonski ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 97%

Environmental limits to mammal diversity vary with latitude and global temperature

Brodie

2019

Ecol Lett

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Understanding the mechanisms driving declines in biodiversity with latitude requires assessing if there are ecological limits to the number of species that can coexist, and if these limits vary with latitude, both of which are long‐standing and currently debated questions. Here I show that diversification of North American mammals across the Cenozoic Era slowed as diversity increased. This damping of diversification rates indicates ecological limitation, which occurred even though diversity fluctuated through time and was almost never at an equilibrium ‘saturation’ point. The estimated environmental carrying capacity was correlated with global temperature positively at high latitudes and negatively at low latitudes. Geographical variation in how standing diversity affects diversification rates could help explain the latitudinal biodiversity gradient as well as changes in the strength of the gradient over time.

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Trait Evolution in Adaptive Radiations: Modeling and Measuring Interspecific Competition on Phylogenies

Cited by 47 publications

References 81 publications

Relative size predicts competitive outcome through 2 million years

Relative size predicts competitive outcome through 2 million years

Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits

Environmental limits to mammal diversity vary with latitude and global temperature

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