Marki, P.Z., Kennedy, J.D., Cooney, C.R. orcid.org/0000-0002-4872-9146 et al. (2 more authors) (2019) Adaptive radiation and the evolution of nectarivory in a large songbird clade. Evolution, 73 (6). pp. 1226-1240. ISSN 0014-3820
Abstract
The accumulation of exceptional ecological diversity within a lineage is a key feature of adaptive radiation resulting from diversification associated with the subdivision of previously underutilized resources. The invasion of unoccupied niche space is predicted to be a key determinant of adaptive diversification, and this process may be particularly important if the diversity of competing lineages within the area, in which the radiation unfolds, is already high. Here, we test whether the evolution of nectarivory resulted in significantly higher rates of morphological evolution, more extensive morphological disparity, and a heightened build‐up of sympatric species diversity in a large adaptive radiation of passerine birds (the honeyeaters, about 190 species) that have diversified extensively throughout continental and insular settings. We find that a large increase in rates of body size evolution and general expansion in morphological space followed an ancestral shift to nectarivory, enabling the build‐up of large numbers of co‐occurring species that vary greatly in size, compared to related and co‐distributed nonnectarivorous clades. These results strongly support the idea that evolutionary shifts into novel areas of niche space play a key role in promoting adaptive radiation in the presence of likely competing lineages.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2019 The Author(s). This is an author-produced version of a paper subsequently published in Evolution. Uploaded in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | character displacement; macroevolution; macroecology; species richness; key innovations; morphological evolution |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Biosciences (Sheffield) > Department of Animal and Plant Sciences (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 04 Feb 2020 11:10 |
Last Modified: | 23 Apr 2020 00:39 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/evo.13734 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:156443 |