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Chira AM, Cooney CR, Bright JA, Capp EJR, Hughes EC, Moody CJA, Nouri LO, Varley ZK, Thomas GH. Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits. Ecol Lett 2018; 21:1505-1514. [PMID: 30133084 PMCID: PMC6175488 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/03/2018] [Revised: 05/22/2018] [Accepted: 07/05/2018] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
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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Affiliation(s)
- A M Chira
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - C R Cooney
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - J A Bright
- School of Geosciences, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL, USA
| | - E J R Capp
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - E C Hughes
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - C J A Moody
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - L O Nouri
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - Z K Varley
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK
| | - G H Thomas
- Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK.,Bird Group, Department of Life Sciences, The Natural History Museum, Tring, Hertfordshire, UK
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