Traits of lizards of the world: Variation around a successful evolutionary design

Meiri, Shai

doi:10.1111/geb.12773

Cited by 171 publications

(228 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…In practice, excluding these taxa has little impact because, as far as is known, all anoles and gymnophthalmids and c . 98% of gekkotans lay eggs (Meiri, ). Members of other lineages with very small brood sizes (e.g.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viviparity does not affect the numbers and sizes of reptile offspring

Meiri

Feldman

Schwarz

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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Viviparity (live‐bearing) has independently evolved from oviparity (egg‐laying) in more than 100 lineages of squamates (lizards and snakes). We might expect consequent shifts in selective forces to affect per‐brood reproductive investment (RI = total mass of offspring relative to maternal mass) and in the way in which that output is partitioned (number vs. size of offspring per brood). Based on the assumption that newly born offspring are heavier than eggs, we predicted that live‐bearing must entail either increased RI or a reduction in offspring size and/or fecundity. However, our phylogenetically controlled analysis of data on 1,259 squamate species revealed no significant differences in mean offspring size, clutch size or RI between oviparous and viviparous squamates. We attribute this paradoxical result to (1) strong selection on offspring sizes, unaffected by parity mode, (2) the lack of a larval stage in amniotes, favouring large eggs even in the ancestral oviparous mode and (3) the ability of viviparous females to decrease the mass of uterine embryos by reducing extra‐embryonic water stores. Our analysis shows that squamate eggs (when laid) weigh about the same as the hatchlings that emerge from them (despite a many‐fold increase in embryo mass during incubation). Most of the egg mass is due to components (such as water stores and the eggshell) not required for oviductal incubation. That repackaging enables live‐born offspring to be accommodated within the mother's body without increasing total litter mass. The consequent stasis in reproductive burden during the evolutionary transition from oviparity to viviparity may have facilitated frequent shifts in parity modes.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Viviparity does not affect the numbers and sizes of reptile offspring

Meiri

Feldman

Schwarz

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

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“…Spatial data are from Roll et al (2017) and contain polygonal maps for almost all squamate reptiles based on expert assessment and occurrence records. Trait data are from Meiri (2018 microhabitat. We also obtained body mass data based on a conversion of maximum SVL using family specific equations (Feldman, Sabath, Pyron, Mayrose, & Meiri, 2016;Meiri, 2010Meiri, , 2018.…”

Section: Spatial Phylogenetic and Trait Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Data used in this study were obtained from Roll et al (2017), Tonini et al (2016 and Meiri (2018). The phylogeny, imputed trait data, as well as the site measures of species richness, functional divergence and environmental predictors for each clade, as well as an R script to perform our analyses are available in the Supporting Information (Appendix S4).…”

Section: Data Acce Ss I B I Lit Ymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent publication of several large databases (Meiri, 2018;Roll et al, 2017;Tonini, Beard, Ferreira, Jetz, & Pyron, 2016) has now made it possible to begin to explore how the environment and ecological and phenotypic trait diversity interact to shape spatial diversity patterns in lizards on a global scale (e.g., Vidan et al, in press). Different lizard taxa also show varied spatial diversity patterns (e.g., Powney et al, 2010), and this makes them excellent independent case studies to further explore the mechanisms that drive diversity.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Alternative pathways to diversity across ecologically distinct lizard radiations

Skeels

Esquerré

Cardillo

2019

Global Ecol Biogeogr

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Aim: Lizard assemblages vary greatly in taxonomic, ecological and phenotypic diversity, yet the mechanisms that generate and maintain these patterns at a macroecological scale are not well understood. We aimed to characterize the ecological and environmental drivers of species richness patterns in the context of macroecological theory for 10 independent lizard radiations. Location: Global. Time period: Present day.Major taxa: Lizards. Methods:We analysed patterns of species and functional trait diversity in 10 ecologically distinct and widely distributed clades encompassing nearly all known lizard species. Using recently published spatial, phylogenetic, and functional trait datasets, we built spatially explicit structural equation models to ask whether species richness was directly or indirectly related to functional divergence or convergence within communities, and with features of the environment, including measures of productivity, complexity and harshness. Results:Our results show that high species richness is achieved via different pathways in different lizard clades, with both functionally divergent and convergent assemblages harbouring high diversity in different clades. More generally, we also find common, positive effects of temperature, productivity and topography on species richness within lizard clades.Main conclusions: Thermal constraints, topographic complexity and spatial structuring of functional diversity help explain the presence of highly diverse lizard assemblages, suggesting the importance of environmental filters in shaping present-day diversity and assemblage structure. Our results show how different pathways to high richness in different clades have contributed to the overall global pattern of species richness in reptiles. K E Y W O R D Sfunctional divergence, macroecology, reptiles, species richness, squamates | 455 SKEELS Et aL.

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“…Sexual size dimorphism is positive when females are larger than males, negative when males are larger than females, and zero when the sexes are the same size. We obtained clutch mass estimates for 135 species from Meiri's (2018) database by multiplying clutch size by the mass of neonates/ hatchlings (derived from their SVL using conversion equations from Feldman et al 2016). To test the niche divergence hypothesis, we calculated the absolute value of SSD for each species and found the average in each grid cell.…”

Section: Species Datamentioning

confidence: 99%

A biogeographic reversal in sexual size dimorphism along a continental temperature gradient

et al. 2018

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The magnitude and direction of sexual size dimorphism (SSD) varies greatly across the animal kingdom, reflecting differential selection pressures on the reproductive and/or ecological roles of males and females. If the selection pressures and constraints imposed on body size change along environmental gradients, then SSD will vary geographically in a predictable way. Here, we uncover a biogeographical reversal in SSD of lizards from Central and North America: in warm, low latitude environments, males are larger than females, but at colder, high latitudes, females are larger than males. Comparisons to expectations under a Brownian motion model of SSD evolution indicate that this pattern reflects differences in the evolutionary rates and/or trajectories of sex-specific body sizes. The SSD gradient we found is strongly related to mean annual temperature, but is independent of species richness and body size differences among species within grid cells, suggesting that the biogeography of SSD reflects gradients in sexual and/or fecundity selection, rather than intersexual niche divergence to minimize intraspecific competition. We demonstrate that the SSD gradient is driven by stronger variation in male size than in female size and is independent of clutch mass. This suggests that gradients in sexual selection and male-male competition, rather than fecundity selection to maximize reproductive output by females in seasonal environments, are predominantly responsible for the gradient.

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Traits of lizards of the world: Variation around a successful evolutionary design

Cited by 171 publications

References 46 publications

Viviparity does not affect the numbers and sizes of reptile offspring

Viviparity does not affect the numbers and sizes of reptile offspring

Alternative pathways to diversity across ecologically distinct lizard radiations

A biogeographic reversal in sexual size dimorphism along a continental temperature gradient

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