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Guo Z, Benton MJ, Stubbs TL, Chen ZQ. Morphological innovation did not drive diversification in Mesozoic-Cenozoic brachiopods. Nat Ecol Evol 2024:10.1038/s41559-024-02491-9. [PMID: 39054349 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-024-02491-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2024] [Accepted: 06/28/2024] [Indexed: 07/27/2024]
Abstract
Over long spans of geological time, various groups of organisms may wax and wane, experiencing times of apparent success and contraction. These rises and falls are often said to reflect either opportunities created by climate change or the relative success of innovative characteristics. Phylum Brachiopoda was one of the most successful marine clades before the Permian/Triassic mass extinction (PTME), but after this event, they became marginal components of marine communities through to the present day. How brachiopod morphological innovations reacted to swiftly declining diversity has long remained poorly understood. Here we analyse morphological evolution over the 300 Myr (Permian-Quaternary) history of the four major Mesozoic-Cenozoic brachiopod orders (Terebratulida, Rhynchonellida, Spiriferinida, Athyridida). Unexpectedly, their disparities reached or exceeded pre-PTME levels, but were decoupled from generic richness, which was generally low. Distribution of taxa in morphospace and shifts in centroid indicate that all four orders exploited new morphospaces when adapting to post-Permian environments. A comparison of morphospace occupation and diversity evolution suggests that the high extinction rate of brachiopods and the limited diversification of new forms may have accounted for the depauperate nature of modern-day brachiopods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhen Guo
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan, China
| | | | - Thomas L Stubbs
- School of Life, Health and Chemical Sciences, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK
| | - Zhong-Qiang Chen
- State Key Laboratory of Biogeology and Environmental Geology, China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Wuhan, China.
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2
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Sansalone G, Wroe S, Coates G, Attard MRG, Fruciano C. Unexpectedly uneven distribution of functional trade-offs explains cranial morphological diversity in carnivores. Nat Commun 2024; 15:3275. [PMID: 38627430 PMCID: PMC11021405 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-47620-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/28/2023] [Accepted: 04/08/2024] [Indexed: 04/19/2024] Open
Abstract
Functional trade-offs can affect patterns of morphological and ecological evolution as well as the magnitude of morphological changes through evolutionary time. Using morpho-functional landscape modelling on the cranium of 132 carnivore species, we focused on the macroevolutionary effects of the trade-off between bite force and bite velocity. Here, we show that rates of evolution in form (morphology) are decoupled from rates of evolution in function. Further, we found theoretical morphologies optimising for velocity to be more diverse, while a much smaller phenotypic space was occupied by shapes optimising force. This pattern of differential representation of different functions in theoretical morphological space was highly correlated with patterns of actual morphological disparity. We hypothesise that many-to-one mapping of cranium shape on function may prevent the detection of direct relationships between form and function. As comparatively only few morphologies optimise bite force, species optimising this function may be less abundant because they are less likely to evolve. This, in turn, may explain why certain clades are less variable than others. Given the ubiquity of functional trade-offs in biological systems, these patterns may be general and may help to explain the unevenness of morphological and functional diversity across the tree of life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gabriele Sansalone
- Institute for Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnology (CNR-IRBIM), National Research Council, Via S. Raineri 4, 98122, Messina, Italy.
- Function, Evolution and Anatomy Research Lab, Zoology Division, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia.
- Department of Life Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Via Campi 213D, 41125, Modena, Italy.
| | - Stephen Wroe
- Function, Evolution and Anatomy Research Lab, Zoology Division, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
| | - Geoffrey Coates
- Function, Evolution and Anatomy Research Lab, Zoology Division, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
| | - Marie R G Attard
- Function, Evolution and Anatomy Research Lab, Zoology Division, School of Environmental and Rural Science, University of New England, Armidale, NSW, Australia
- British Antarctic Survey, High Cross, Madingley Road, CB3 0ET, Cambridge, UK
| | - Carmelo Fruciano
- Institute for Marine Biological Resources and Biotechnology (CNR-IRBIM), National Research Council, Via S. Raineri 4, 98122, Messina, Italy.
- National Biodiversity Future Center, Piazza Marina 61, 90133, Palermo, Italy.
- Department of Biological, Geological and Environmental Sciences, University of Catania, via Androne 81, 95124, Catania, Italy.
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3
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Hellert SM, Grossnickle DM, Lloyd GT, Kammerer CF, Angielczyk KD. Derived faunivores are the forerunners of major synapsid radiations. Nat Ecol Evol 2023; 7:1903-1913. [PMID: 37798433 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-023-02200-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/22/2022] [Accepted: 08/06/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023]
Abstract
Evolutionary radiations generate most of Earth's biodiversity, but are there common ecomorphological traits among the progenitors of radiations? In Synapsida (the mammalian total group), 'small-bodied faunivore' has been hypothesized as the ancestral state of most major radiating clades, but this has not been quantitatively assessed across multiple radiations. To examine macroevolutionary patterns in a phylogenetic context, we generated a time-calibrated metaphylogeny ('metatree') comprising 1,888 synapsid species from the Carboniferous through the Eocene (305-34 Ma) based on 269 published character matrices. We used comparative methods to investigate body size and dietary evolution during successive synapsid radiations. Faunivory is the ancestral dietary regime of each major synapsid radiation, but relatively small body size is only established as the common ancestral state of radiations near the origin of Mammaliaformes in the Late Triassic. The faunivorous ancestors of synapsid radiations typically have numerous novel characters compared with their contemporaries, and these derived traits may have helped them to survive faunal turnover events and subsequently radiate.
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Affiliation(s)
- Spencer M Hellert
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA.
- Department of Science and Mathematics, Columbia College Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
| | - David M Grossnickle
- Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA
- Natural Sciences Department, Oregon Institute of Technology, Klamath Falls, OR, USA
| | | | | | - Kenneth D Angielczyk
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA
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4
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Raulo A, Rojas A, Kröger B, Laaksonen A, Orta CL, Nurmio S, Peltoniemi M, Lahti L, Žliobaitė I. What are patterns of rise and decline? ROYAL SOCIETY OPEN SCIENCE 2023; 10:230052. [PMID: 38026026 PMCID: PMC10646453 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.230052] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/20/2023] [Accepted: 10/17/2023] [Indexed: 12/01/2023]
Abstract
The notions of change, such as birth, death, growth, evolution and longevity, extend across reality, including biological, cultural and societal phenomena. Patterns of change describe how success and composition of every entity, from species to societies, vary across time. Languages develop into new languages, music and fashion continuously evolve, economies rise and decline, ecological and societal crises come and go. A common way to perceive and analyse change processes is through patterns of rise and decline, the ubiquitous, often distinctively unimodal trajectories describing life histories of various entities. These patterns come in different shapes and are measured according to varying definitions. Depending on how they are measured, patterns of rise and decline can reveal, emphasize, mask or obscure important dynamics in natural and cultural phenomena. Importantly, the variations of how dynamics are measured can be vast, making it impossible to directly compare patterns of rise and decline across fields of science. Standardized analysis of these patterns has the potential to uncover important but overlooked commonalities across natural phenomena and potentially help us catch the onset of dramatic shifts in entities' state, from catastrophic crashes in success to gradual emergence of new entities. We provide a framework for standardized recognizing, characterizing and comparing patterns of change by combining understanding of dynamics across fields of science. Our toolkit aims at enhancing understanding of the most general tendencies of change, through two complementary perspectives: dynamics of emergence and dynamics of success. We gather comparable cases and data from different research fields and summarize open research questions that can help us understand the universal principles, perception-biases and field-specific tendencies in patterns of rise and decline of entities in nature.
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Affiliation(s)
- Aura Raulo
- Department of Computing, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
- Department of Biology, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3SZ, UK
| | - Alexis Rojas
- Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Björn Kröger
- Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Antti Laaksonen
- Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Carlos Lamuela Orta
- Mobility Research Group, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Espoo, Uusimaa, Finland
| | - Silva Nurmio
- Department of Languages, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
| | - Mirva Peltoniemi
- Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, Tampere University, 33014 Tampere, Finland
| | - Leo Lahti
- Department of Computing, University of Turku, Turku, Finland
| | - Indrė Žliobaitė
- Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
- Department of Geosciences and Geography, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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5
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Miles DB, Ricklefs RE, Losos JB. How exceptional are the classic adaptive radiations of passerine birds? Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2023; 120:e1813976120. [PMID: 37624752 PMCID: PMC10469319 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1813976120] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/25/2019] [Accepted: 07/17/2023] [Indexed: 08/27/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigated whether celebrated cases of evolutionary radiations of passerine birds on islands have produced exceptional morphological diversity relative to comparable-aged radiations globally. Based on eight external measurements, we calculated the disparity in size and shape within clades, each of which was classified as being tropical or temperate and as having diversified in a continental or an island/archipelagic setting. We found that the distribution of disparity among all clades does not differ substantively from a normal distribution, which would be consistent with a common underlying process of morphological diversification that is largely independent of latitude and occurrence on islands. Disparity is slightly greater in island clades than in those from continents or clades consisting of island and noninsular taxa, revealing a small, but significant, effect of island occurrence on evolutionary divergence. Nonetheless, the number of highly disparate clades overall is no greater than expected from a normal distribution, calling into question the need to invoke key innovations, ecological opportunity, or other factors as stimuli for adaptive radiations in passerine birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Donald B. Miles
- Department of Biological Sciences, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701
- Department of Biology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO63130
| | - Robert E. Ricklefs
- Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, MO63121-4449
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6
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Zhou S, Edie SM, Collins KS, Crouch NMA, Jablonski D. Cambrian origin but no early burst in functional disparity for Class Bivalvia. Biol Lett 2023; 19:20230157. [PMID: 37254520 PMCID: PMC10230185 DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2023.0157] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/31/2023] [Accepted: 05/10/2023] [Indexed: 06/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Both the Cambrian explosion, more than half a billion years ago, and its Ordovician aftermath some 35 Myr later, are often framed as episodes of widespread ecological opportunity, but not all clades originating during this interval showed prolific rises in morphological or functional disparity. In a direct analysis of functional disparity, instead of the more commonly used proxy of morphological disparity, we find that ecological functions of Class Bivalvia arose concordantly with and even lagged behind taxonomic diversification, rather than the early-burst pattern expected for clades originating in supposedly open ecological landscapes. Unlike several other clades originating in the Cambrian explosion, the bivalves' belated acquisition of key anatomical novelties imposed a macroevolutionary lag, and even when those novelties evolved in the Early Ordovician, functional disparity never surpassed taxonomic diversity. Beyond this early period of animal evolution, the founding and subsequent diversification of new major clades and their functions might be expected to follow the pattern of the early bivalves-one where interactions between highly dynamic environmental and biotic landscapes and evolutionary contingencies need not promote prolific functional innovation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sharon Zhou
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Stewart M. Edie
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | | | - Nicholas M. A. Crouch
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - David Jablonski
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
- Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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7
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A practical spatial analysis method for elucidating the biological mechanisms of cancers with abdominal dissemination in vivo. Sci Rep 2022; 12:20303. [PMID: 36434071 PMCID: PMC9700726 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-24827-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2022] [Accepted: 11/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Elucidation of spatial interactions between cancer and host cells is important for the development of new therapies against disseminated cancers. The aim of this study is to establish easy and useful method for elucidating spatial interactions. In this study, we developed a practical spatial analysis method using a gel-based embedding system and applied it to a murine model of cancer dissemination. After euthanization, every abdominal organ enclosed in the peritoneum was extracted en bloc. We injected agarose gel into the peritoneal cavities to preserve the spatial locations of the organs, including their metastatic niches, and then produced specimens when the gel had solidified. Preservation of the original spatial localization was confirmed by correlating magnetic resonance imaging results with the sectioned specimens. We examined the effects of spatial localization on cancer hypoxia using immunohistochemical hypoxia markers. Finally, we identified the mRNA expression of the specimens and demonstrated the applicability of spatial genetic analysis. In conclusion, we established a practical method for the in vivo investigation of spatial location-specific biological mechanisms in disseminated cancers. Our method can elucidate dissemination mechanisms, find therapeutic targets, and evaluate cancer therapeutic effects.
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8
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Abstract
AbstractEvolvability is best addressed from a multi-level, macroevolutionary perspective through a comparative approach that tests for among-clade differences in phenotypic diversification in response to an opportunity, such as encountered after a mass extinction, entering a new adaptive zone, or entering a new geographic area. Analyzing the dynamics of clades under similar environmental conditions can (partially) factor out shared external drivers to recognize intrinsic differences in evolvability, aiming for a macroevolutionary analog of a common-garden experiment. Analyses will be most powerful when integrating neontological and paleontological data: determining differences among extant populations that can be hypothesized to generate large-scale, long-term contrasts in evolvability among clades; or observing large-scale differences among clade histories that can by hypothesized to reflect contrasts in genetics and development observed directly in extant populations. However, many comparative analyses can be informative on their own, as explored in this overview. Differences in clade-level evolvability can be visualized in diversity-disparity plots, which can quantify positive and negative departures of phenotypic productivity from stochastic expectations scaled to taxonomic diversification. Factors that evidently can promote evolvability include modularity—when selection aligns with modular structure or with morphological integration patterns; pronounced ontogenetic changes in morphology, as in allometry or multiphase life cycles; genome size; and a variety of evolutionary novelties, which can also be evaluated using macroevolutionary lags between the acquisition of a trait and phenotypic diversification, and dead-clade-walking patterns that may signal a loss of evolvability when extrinsic factors can be excluded. High speciation rates may indirectly foster phenotypic evolvability, and vice versa. Mechanisms are controversial, but clade evolvability may be higher in the Cambrian, and possibly early in the history of clades at other times; in the tropics; and, for marine organisms, in shallow-water disturbed habitats.
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9
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Life rather than climate influences diversity at scales greater than 40 million years. Nature 2022; 607:307-312. [PMID: 35732740 DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04867-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2021] [Accepted: 05/12/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
The diversity of life on Earth is controlled by hierarchical processes that interact over wide ranges of timescales1. Here, we consider the megaclimate regime2 at scales ≥1 million years (Myr). We focus on determining the domains of 'wandering' stochastic Earth system processes ('Court Jester'3) and stabilizing biotic interactions that induce diversity dependence of fluctuations in macroevolutionary rates ('Red Queen'4). Using state-of-the-art multiscale Haar and cross-Haar fluctuation analyses, we analysed the global genus-level Phanerozoic marine animal Paleobiology Database record of extinction rates (E), origination rates (O) and diversity (D) as well as sea water palaeotemperatures (T). Over the entire observed range from several million years to several hundred million years, we found that the fluctuations of T, E and O showed time-scaling behaviour. The megaclimate was characterized by positive scaling exponents-it is therefore apparently unstable. E and O are also scaling but with negative exponents-stable behaviour that is biotically mediated. For D, there were two regimes with a crossover at critical timescale [Formula: see text] ≈ 40 Myr. For shorter timescales, D exhibited nearly the same positive scaling as the megaclimate palaeotemperatures, whereas for longer timescales it tracks the scaling of macroevolutionary rates. At scales of at least [Formula: see text] there is onset of diversity dependence of E and O, probably enabled by mixing and synchronization (globalization) of the biota by geodispersal ('Geo-Red Queen').
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10
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Aria C. The origin and early evolution of arthropods. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2022; 97:1786-1809. [PMID: 35475316 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12864] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/04/2021] [Revised: 04/12/2022] [Accepted: 04/14/2022] [Indexed: 12/18/2022]
Abstract
The rise of arthropods is a decisive event in the history of life. Likely the first animals to have established themselves on land and in the air, arthropods have pervaded nearly all ecosystems and have become pillars of the planet's ecological networks. Forerunners of this saga, exceptionally well-preserved Palaeozoic fossils recently discovered or re-discovered using new approaches and techniques have elucidated the precocious appearance of extant lineages at the onset of the Cambrian explosion, and pointed to the critical role of the plankton and hard integuments in early arthropod diversification. The notion put forward at the beginning of the century that the acquisition of extant arthropod characters was stepwise and represented by the majority of Cambrian fossil taxa is being rewritten. Although some key traits leading to Euarthropoda are indeed well documented along a diversified phylogenetic stem, this stem led to several speciose and ecologically diverse radiations leaving descendants late into the Palaeozoic, and a large part, if not all of the Cambrian euarthropods can now be placed on either of the two extant lineages: Mandibulata and Chelicerata. These new observations and discoveries have altered our view on the nature and timing of the Cambrian explosion and clarified diagnostic characters at the origin of extant arthropods, but also raised new questions, especially with respect to cephalic plasticity. There is now strong evidence that early arthropods shared a homologous frontalmost appendage, coined here the cheira, which likely evolved into antennules and chelicerae, but other aspects, such as brain and labrum evolution, are still subject to active debate. The early evolution of panarthropods was generally driven by increased mastication and predation efficiency and sophistication, but a wealth of recent studies have also highlighted the prevalent role of suspension-feeding, for which early panarthropods developed their own adaptive feedback through both specialized appendages and the diversification of small, morphologically differentiated larvae. In a context of general integumental differentiation and hardening across Cambrian metazoans, arthrodization of body and limbs notably prompted two diverging strategies of basipod differentiation, which arguably became founding criteria in the divergence of total-groups Mandibulata and Chelicerata. The kinship of trilobites and their relatives remains a source of disagreement, but a recent topological solution, termed the 'deep split', could embed Artiopoda as sister taxa to chelicerates and constitute definitive support for Arachnomorpha. Although Cambrian fossils have been critical to all these findings, data of exceptional quality have also been accumulating from other Palaeozoic Konservat-Lagerstätten, and a better integration of this information promises a much more complete and elaborate picture of early arthropod evolution in the near future. From the broader perspective of a total-evidence approach to the understanding of life's history, and despite persisting systematic debates and new interpretative challenges, various advances based on palaeontological evidence open the prospect of finally using the full potential of the most diverse animal phylum to investigate macroevolutionary patterns and processes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Cédric Aria
- State Key Laboratory of Palaeobiology and Stratigraphy, Nanjing Institute of Geology and Palaeontology and Center for Excellence in Life and Palaeoenvironment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, P. R. China.,Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Early Life and Environments, Northwest University, Xi'an, 710069, P.R. China
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11
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Fasanelli MN, Milla Carmona PS, Soto IM, Tuero DT. Allometry, sexual selection and evolutionary lines of least resistance shaped the evolution of exaggerated sexual traits within the genus Tyrannus. J Evol Biol 2022; 35:669-679. [PMID: 35290678 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.14000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/17/2021] [Revised: 01/15/2022] [Accepted: 02/22/2022] [Indexed: 11/25/2022]
Abstract
Variational properties hold a fundamental role in shaping biological evolution, exerting control over the magnitude and direction of evolutionary change elicited by microevolutionary processes that sort variation, such as selection or drift. We studied the genus Tyrannus as a model for examining the conditions and drivers that facilitate the repeated evolution of exaggerated, secondary sexual traits in the face of significant functional limitations. In particular, we explore the role of allometry, sexual selection and their interaction, on the diversification of tail morphology in the genus, assessing whether and how they promoted or constrained phenotypic evolution. Non-deep-forked species tend to show reduced sexual dimorphism and moderate allometric variation in tail shape. The exaggerated and functionally constrained long feathers of deep-forked species, T. savana and T. forficatus, which show both marked sexual dimorphism and allometric tail shape variation, independently diverged from the rest of the genus following the same direction of main interspecific variation accrued during the evolution of non-deep-forked species. Moreover, the latter direction is also aligned with axes summarising sexual dimorphism and allometric variation on deep-forked species, a feature lacking in the rest of the species. Thus, exaggerated tail morphologies are interpreted as the result of amplified divergence through reorientation and co-option of allometric variation by sexual selection, repeatedly driving morphology along a historically favoured direction of cladogenetic evolution.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martín Nicolás Fasanelli
- Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires - IEGEBA (CONICET-UBA), Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución -DEGE, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Laboratorio de Biología Integral de Sistemas Evolutivos, DEGE, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Pablo S Milla Carmona
- Laboratorio de Biología Integral de Sistemas Evolutivos, DEGE, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Laboratorio de Ecosistemas Marinos Fósiles, Instituto de Estudios Andinos - IDEAN (CONICET-UBA), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Ignacio María Soto
- Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires - IEGEBA (CONICET-UBA), Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución -DEGE, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Laboratorio de Biología Integral de Sistemas Evolutivos, DEGE, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Diego Tomás Tuero
- Instituto de Ecología, Genética y Evolución de Buenos Aires - IEGEBA (CONICET-UBA), Departamento de Ecología, Genética y Evolución -DEGE, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina
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12
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Edie SM, Khouja SC, Collins KS, Crouch NMA, Jablonski D. Evolutionary modularity, integration and disparity in an accretionary skeleton: analysis of venerid Bivalvia. Proc Biol Sci 2022; 289:20211199. [PMID: 35042422 PMCID: PMC8767195 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2021.1199] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/28/2023] Open
Abstract
Modular evolution, the relatively independent evolution of body parts, may promote high morphological disparity in a clade. Conversely, integrated evolution via stronger covariation of parts may limit disparity. However, integration can also promote high disparity by channelling morphological evolution along lines of least resistance-a process that may be particularly important in the accumulation of disparity in the many invertebrate systems having accretionary growth. We use a time-calibrated phylogenetic hypothesis and high-density, three-dimensional semilandmarking to analyse the relationship between modularity, integration and disparity in the most diverse extant bivalve family: the Veneridae. In general, venerids have a simple, two-module parcellation of their body that is divided into features of the calcium carbonate shell and features of the internal soft anatomy. This division falls more along developmental than functional lines when placed in the context of bivalve anatomy and biomechanics. The venerid body is tightly integrated in absolute terms, but disparity appears to increase with modularity strength among subclades and ecologies. Thus, shifts towards more mosaic evolution beget higher morphological variance in this speciose family.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stewart M. Edie
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20013, USA
| | - Safia C. Khouja
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - Katie S. Collins
- Department of Earth Sciences, Invertebrates and Plants Palaeobiology Division, Natural History Museum, London SW7 5BD, UK
| | - Nicholas M. A. Crouch
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
| | - David Jablonski
- Department of the Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Ave, Chicago, IL 60637, USA,Committee on Evolutionary Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
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13
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Val P, Lyons NJ, Gasparini N, Willenbring JK, Albert JS. Landscape Evolution as a Diversification Driver in Freshwater Fishes. Front Ecol Evol 2022. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2021.788328] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The exceptional concentration of vertebrate diversity in continental freshwaters has been termed the “freshwater fish paradox,” with > 15,000 fish species representing more than 20% of all vertebrate species compressed into tiny fractions of the Earth’s land surface area (<0.5%) or total aquatic habitat volume (<0.001%). This study asks if the fish species richness of the world’s river basins is explainable in terms of river captures using topographic metrics as proxies. The River Capture Hypothesis posits that drainage-network rearrangements have accelerated biotic diversification through their combined effects on dispersal, speciation, and extinction. Yet rates of river capture are poorly constrained at the basin scale worldwide. Here we assess correlations between fish species density (data for 14,953 obligate freshwater fish species) and basin-wide metrics of landscape evolution (data for 3,119 river basins), including: topography (elevation, average relief, slope, drainage area) and climate (average rainfall and air temperature). We assess the results in the context of both static landscapes (e.g., species-area and habitat heterogeneity relationships) and transient landscapes (e.g., river capture, tectonic activity, landscape disequilibrium). We also relax assumptions of functional neutrality of basins (tropical vs. extratropical, tectonically stable vs. active terrains). We found a disproportionate number of freshwater species in large, lowland river basins of tropical South America, Africa, and Southeast Asia, under predictable conditions of large geographic area, tropical climate, low topographic relief, and high habitat volume (i.e., high rainfall rates). However, our results show that these conditions are only necessary, but not fully sufficient, to explain the basins with the highest diversity. Basins with highest diversity are all located on tectonically stable regions, places where river capture is predicted to be most conducive to the formation of high fish species richness over evolutionary timescales. Our results are consistent with predictions of several landscape evolution models, including the River Capture Hypothesis, Mega Capture Hypothesis, and Intermediate Capture Rate Hypothesis, and support conclusions of numerical modeling studies indicating landscape transience as a mechanistic driver of net diversification in riverine and riparian organisms with widespread continental distributions.
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14
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Meloro C, Tamagnini D. Macroevolutionary ecomorphology of the Carnivora skull: adaptations and constraints in the extant species. Zool J Linn Soc 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/zoolinnean/zlab075] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
The mammalian order Carnivora is characterized by a broad taxonomic and ecological diversity. By using a large sample of extant species, we tested the impact of ecological factors on carnivoran skull (cranium and mandible) morphology, taking advantage of a combined geometric morphometrics and comparative method approach. We implemented several evolutionary models to account for different tempo and mode of evolution in size and shape data. These models validated the association between skull morphology and diet at the interspecific scale. The functional distinction between pinniped (aquatic) and fissiped (mostly terrestrial) taxa was found valid only in mandible shape and cranial size. High levels of morphological disparity and evolutionary rates were identified in specialized dietary groups, and positive association between rates and disparity was found for skull size. Cranium and mandible showed consistent patterns of covariation that reflect constrained functional processes, which stabilize the ecomorphological evolution of Carnivora. Aquatic adaptations allowed carnivorans to invade and persist within novel regions of the mandibular morphospace. This ecological shift did not increase morphological disparity but occurred at a faster rate than in terrestrial species. Those species exhibit a stronger level of cranio-mandibular covariation due to constraints imposed by more demanding masticatory adaptations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carlo Meloro
- Research Centre in Evolutionary Anthropology and Palaeoecology, School of Biological and Environmental Sciences, Liverpool John Moores University, Liverpool, UK
| | - Davide Tamagnini
- Department of Biology and Biotechnologies ‘Charles Darwin’, University of Rome La Sapienza, Rome, Italy
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15
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Greenberg DA, Pyron RA, Johnson LGW, Upham NS, Jetz W, Mooers AØ. Evolutionary legacies in contemporary tetrapod imperilment. Ecol Lett 2021; 24:2464-2476. [PMID: 34510687 DOI: 10.1111/ele.13868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/08/2021] [Revised: 07/12/2021] [Accepted: 07/29/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
The Tree of Life will be irrevocably reshaped as anthropogenic extinctions continue to unfold. Theory suggests that lineage evolutionary dynamics, such as age since origination, historical extinction filters and speciation rates, have influenced ancient extinction patterns - but whether these factors also contribute to modern extinction risk is largely unknown. We examine evolutionary legacies in contemporary extinction risk for over 4000 genera, representing ~30,000 species, from the major tetrapod groups: amphibians, birds, turtles and crocodiles, squamate reptiles and mammals. We find consistent support for the hypothesis that extinction risk is elevated in lineages with higher recent speciation rates. We subsequently test, and find modest support for, a primary mechanism driving this pattern: that rapidly diversifying clades predominantly comprise range-restricted, and extinction-prone, species. These evolutionary patterns in current imperilment may have important consequences for how we manage the erosion of biological diversity across the Tree of Life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dan A Greenberg
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - R Alexander Pyron
- Department of Biological Sciences, George Washington University, Washington, District of Columbia, USA
| | - Liam G W Johnson
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
| | - Nathan S Upham
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.,Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.,School of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona, USA
| | - Walter Jetz
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.,Center for Biodiversity and Global Change, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, USA
| | - Arne Ø Mooers
- Department of Biological Sciences, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada
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16
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Xie VC, Pu J, Metzger BP, Thornton JW, Dickinson BC. Contingency and chance erase necessity in the experimental evolution of ancestral proteins. eLife 2021; 10:67336. [PMID: 34061027 PMCID: PMC8282340 DOI: 10.7554/elife.67336] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/08/2021] [Accepted: 05/30/2021] [Indexed: 12/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The roles of chance, contingency, and necessity in evolution are unresolved because they have never been assessed in a single system or on timescales relevant to historical evolution. We combined ancestral protein reconstruction and a new continuous evolution technology to mutate and select proteins in the B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL-2) family to acquire protein–protein interaction specificities that occurred during animal evolution. By replicating evolutionary trajectories from multiple ancestral proteins, we found that contingency generated over long historical timescales steadily erased necessity and overwhelmed chance as the primary cause of acquired sequence variation; trajectories launched from phylogenetically distant proteins yielded virtually no common mutations, even under strong and identical selection pressures. Chance arose because many sets of mutations could alter specificity at any timepoint; contingency arose because historical substitutions changed these sets. Our results suggest that patterns of variation in BCL-2 sequences – and likely other proteins, too – are idiosyncratic products of a particular and unpredictable course of historical events. One of the most fundamental and unresolved questions in evolutionary biology is whether the outcomes of evolution are predictable. Is the diversity of life we see today the expected result of organisms adapting to their environment throughout history (also known as natural selection) or the product of random chance? Or did chance events early in history shape the paths that evolution could take next, determining the biological forms that emerged under natural selection much later? These questions are hard to study because evolution happened only once, long ago. To overcome this barrier, Xie, Pu, Metzger et al. developed an experimental approach that can evolve reconstructed ancestral proteins that existed deep in the past. Using this method, it is possible to replay evolution multiple times, from various historical starting points, under conditions similar to those that existed long ago. The end products of the evolutionary trajectories can then be compared to determine how predictable evolution actually is. Xie, Pu, Metzger et al. studied proteins belonging to the BCL-2 family, which originated some 800 million years ago. These proteins have diversified greatly over time in both their genetic sequences and their ability to bind to specific partner proteins called co-regulators. Xie, Pu, Metzger et al. synthesized BCL-2 proteins that existed at various times in the past. Each ancestral protein was then allowed to evolve repeatedly under natural selection to acquire the same co-regulator binding functions that evolved during history. At the end of each evolutionary trajectory, the genetic sequence of the resulting BCL-2 proteins was recorded. This revealed that the outcomes of evolution were almost completely unpredictable: trajectories initiated from the same ancestral protein produced proteins with very different sequences, and proteins launched from different ancestral starting points were even more dissimilar. Further experiments identified the mutations in each trajectory that caused changes in coregulator binding. When these mutations were introduced into other ancestral proteins, they did not yield the same change in function. This suggests that early chance events influenced each protein’s evolution in an unpredictable way by opening and closing the paths available to it in the future. This research expands our understanding of evolution on a molecular level whilst providing a new experimental approach for studying evolutionary drivers in more detail. The results suggest that BCL-2 proteins, in all their various forms, are unique products of a particular, unpredictable course of history set in motion by ancient chance events.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jinyue Pu
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
| | - Brian Ph Metzger
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
| | - Joseph W Thornton
- Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States.,Department of Human Genetics, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
| | - Bryan C Dickinson
- Department of Chemistry, University of Chicago, Chicago, United States
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17
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Evolution of the locomotor skeleton in Anolis lizards reflects the interplay between ecological opportunity and phylogenetic inertia. Nat Commun 2021; 12:1525. [PMID: 33750763 PMCID: PMC7943571 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-21757-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/08/2020] [Accepted: 02/11/2021] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Anolis lizards originated in continental America but have colonized the Greater Antillean islands and recolonized the mainland, resulting in three major groups (Primary and Secondary Mainland and Greater Antillean). The adaptive radiation in the Greater Antilles has famously resulted in the repeated evolution of ecomorphs. Yet, it remains poorly understood to what extent this island radiation differs from diversification on the mainland. Here, we demonstrate that the evolutionary modularity between girdles and limbs is fundamentally different in the Greater Antillean and Primary Mainland Anolis. This is consistent with ecological opportunities on islands driving the adaptive radiation along distinct evolutionary trajectories. However, Greater Antillean Anolis share evolutionary modularity with the group that recolonized the mainland, demonstrating a persistent phylogenetic inertia. A comparison of these two groups support an increased morphological diversity and faster and more variable evolutionary rates on islands. These macroevolutionary trends of the locomotor skeleton in Anolis illustrate that ecological opportunities on islands can have lasting effects on morphological diversification.
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18
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A multiscale view of the Phanerozoic fossil record reveals the three major biotic transitions. Commun Biol 2021; 4:309. [PMID: 33686149 PMCID: PMC7977041 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-021-01805-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/15/2020] [Accepted: 02/03/2021] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
The hypothesis of the Great Evolutionary Faunas is a foundational concept of macroevolutionary research postulating that three global mega-assemblages have dominated Phanerozoic oceans following abrupt biotic transitions. Empirical estimates of this large-scale pattern depend on several methodological decisions and are based on approaches unable to capture multiscale dynamics of the underlying Earth-Life System. Combining a multilayer network representation of fossil data with a multilevel clustering that eliminates the subjectivity inherent to distance-based approaches, we demonstrate that Phanerozoic oceans sequentially harbored four global benthic mega-assemblages. Shifts in dominance patterns among these global marine mega-assemblages were abrupt (end-Cambrian 494 Ma; end-Permian 252 Ma) or protracted (mid-Cretaceous 129 Ma), and represent the three major biotic transitions in Earth’s history. Our findings suggest that gradual ecological changes associated with the Mesozoic Marine Revolution triggered a protracted biotic transition comparable in magnitude to the end-Permian transition initiated by the most severe biotic crisis of the past 500 million years. Overall, our study supports the notion that both long-term ecological changes and major geological events have played crucial roles in shaping the mega-assemblages that dominated Phanerozoic oceans. Rojas et al. present a new multi-scale model that reveals the three major biotic transitions of the Phanerozoic fossil record. This new model supports the hypothesis that both long-term ecological changes and major geological events played crucial roles in shaping ocean mega-assemblages through the Phanerozoic.
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19
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Davis Rabosky AR, Moore TY, Sánchez-Paredes CM, Westeen EP, Larson JG, Sealey BA, Balinski BA. Convergence and divergence in anti-predator displays: a novel approach to quantitative behavioural comparison in snakes. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blaa222] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Animals in nature use many strategies to evade or deter their predators. Within venomous snake mimicry, stereotyped anti-predator behaviours are hypothesized to be effective warning signals under strong selection for independent convergence across species. However, no studies have systematically quantified snake anti-predator displays across taxonomically broad clades to examine how these behaviours evolve within a comparative methods framework. Here we describe a new high-throughput approach for collecting and quantifying anti-predator displays in snakes that demonstrates both low observer bias and infinite extension. Then, we show this method’s utility by comparing 20 species spanning six taxonomic families from Peru. We found that a simple experimental set-up varying simulated predator cues was successful in eliciting displays across species and that high-speed videography captured a great diversity of anti-predator responses. Although display components show complicated patterns of covariance, we found support for behavioural convergence in anti-predator displays among elapid coral snakes and their distantly related mimics. Our approach provides new analytical opportunities for both behaviour and kinematics, especially macroevolutionary analyses across clades with similar difficulty in observing or comparing trait diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alison R Davis Rabosky
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Talia Y Moore
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Department of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics Institute, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
| | - Ciara M Sánchez-Paredes
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Facultad de Ciencias y Filosofía, Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Lima, Peru
- Department of Environment and Geography, University of York, Heslington, York, UK
| | - Erin P Westeen
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management and Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA
| | - Joanna G Larson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana, USA
| | - Briana A Sealey
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas, USA
| | - Bailey A Balinski
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology and Museum of Zoology (UMMZ), University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
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20
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Januario M, Quental TB. Re-evaluation of the "law of constant extinction" for ruminants at different taxonomical scales. Evolution 2021; 75:656-671. [PMID: 33486771 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2019] [Revised: 12/15/2020] [Accepted: 12/27/2020] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Abstract
The "law of constant extinction," proposed by Van Valen, states that long and short-lived taxa have equal chances of going extinct. This pattern of age-independent extinction was originally inferred using the fossil record of several different taxa and relied on survivorship curves built from the literal reading of the fossil record. Van Valen's seminal work was mostly done at higher taxonomic levels, hence its prevalence at the species level could not be directly inferred. The surprisingly few subsequent studies done at the species level have challenged the prevalence of age-independent extinction, but those have, for the most part, failed to explicitly incorporate inherent biases of the fossil record. Using a recent Bayesian framework that accounts for several of those biases, including the fact that very short-living lineages might never make to the record itself, we showed that Ruminantia species present age-dependent extinction, where extinction probability decreases with species age. An analysis at the genus level suggested age-independent extinction but further examination suggested that the pattern might be more complex than previously reported by Van Valen. Our results indicate that different taxonomic levels may present different extinction regimes, which could justify the development of new macroevolutionary theory and methods.
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Affiliation(s)
- Matheus Januario
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
| | - Tiago B Quental
- Departamento de Ecologia, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
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21
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Olson ME. The comparative method is not macroevolution: across-species evidence for within-species process. Syst Biol 2021; 70:1272-1281. [PMID: 33410880 DOI: 10.1093/sysbio/syaa086] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/29/2019] [Revised: 10/28/2020] [Accepted: 11/03/2020] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
It is common for studies that employ the comparative method for the study of adaptation, i.e. documentation of potentially adaptive across-species patterns of trait-environment or trait-trait correlation, to be designated as "macroevolutionary." Authors are justified in using "macroevolution" in this way by appeal to definitions such as "evolution above the species level." I argue that regarding the comparative method as "macroevolutionary" is harmful because it hides in serious ways the true causal content of hypotheses tested with the comparative method. The comparative method is a means of testing hypotheses of adaptation and their alternatives. Adaptation is a population level phenomenon, involving heritable interindividual variation that is associated with fitness differences. For example, given heritable intrapopulational variation, more streamlined individuals in populations of fast-moving aquatic animals have higher locomotory efficiency and thus better survivorship and more resources directed to reproduction than less streamlined ones. Direct evidence consistent with this population-level scenario includes the observation that many unrelated species of fast-moving aquatic animals have similar streamlined shapes, an example of the comparative method. Crucial to note in this example is that although the data are observed across species, the comparative method for studying adaptation tests hypotheses regarding standard population-level natural selection with no content that can be construed as "macro." Even less "macro," individual-level developmental dynamics can limit or bias the range of variants available for selection. Calling any of these studies "macroevolutionary" implies that some additional process is at work, shrouding the need to test adaptation hypotheses and study the range of variants that can be produced in development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mark E Olson
- Instituto de Biología, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Tercer Circuito sn de Ciudad Universitaria, Ciudad de México, Mexico
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22
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Erwin DH. A conceptual framework of evolutionary novelty and innovation. Biol Rev Camb Philos Soc 2020; 96:1-15. [PMID: 32869437 DOI: 10.1111/brv.12643] [Citation(s) in RCA: 27] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2020] [Revised: 07/31/2020] [Accepted: 08/12/2020] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
Since 1990 the recognition of deep homologies among metazoan developmental processes and the spread of more mechanistic approaches to developmental biology have led to a resurgence of interest in evolutionary novelty and innovation. Other evolutionary biologists have proposed central roles for behaviour and phenotypic plasticity in generating the conditions for the construction of novel morphologies, or invoked the accessibility of new regions of vast sequence spaces. These approaches contrast with more traditional emphasis on the exploitation of ecological opportunities as the primary source of novelty. This definitional cornucopia reflects differing stress placed on three attributes of novelties: their radical nature, the generation of new taxa, and ecological and evolutionary impact. Such different emphasis has led to conflating four distinct issues: the origin of novel attributes (genes, developmental processes, phenotypic characters), new functions, higher clades and the ecological impact of new structures and functions. Here I distinguish novelty (the origin of new characters, deep character transformations, or new combinations) from innovation, the ecological and evolutionary success of clades. Evidence from the fossil record of macroevolutionary lags between the origin of a novelty and its ecological success demonstrates that novelty may be decoupled from innovation, and only definitions of novelty based on radicality (rather than generativity or consequentiality) can be assessed without reference to the subsequent history of the clade to which a novelty belongs. These considerations suggest a conceptual framework for novelty and innovation, involving: (i) generation of the potential for novelty; (ii) the formation of novel attributes; (iii) refinement of novelties through adaptation; (iv) exploitation of novelties by a clade, which may coincide with a new round of ecological or environmental potentiation; followed by (v) the establishment of innovations through ecological processes. This framework recognizes that there is little empirical support for either the dominance of ecological opportunity, nor abrupt discontinuities (often caricatured as 'hopeful monsters'). This general framework may be extended to aspects of cultural and social innovation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas H Erwin
- Department of Paleobiology, MRC-121 National Museum of Natural History, PO Box 37012, Washington, DC, 20013-7012, U.S.A.,Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Road, Santa Fe, NM, 87501, U.S.A
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23
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Kröger B, Penny A. Skeletal marine animal biodiversity is built by families with long macroevolutionary lag times. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:1410-1415. [PMID: 32747774 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1265-8] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/24/2020] [Accepted: 06/26/2020] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
The clade dynamics of marine animals have changed markedly over the Phanerozoic. Long-term diversification is associated with decreasing origination and extinction rates, and with increasing taxon longevity. Here we use the diversification trajectories of skeletal non-colonial marine families to infer the mechanisms that generated these trends. Suggested mechanisms behind these trends include stochastic extinction of taxa with high evolutionary volatility and selection for traits that buffer against extinction. We find an increasing predominance of Phanerozoic families with long lag times between first appearance and peak diversity, over those with 'early burst' diversification trajectories. Long-lag families persisted for longer and had lower evolutionary volatilities, higher genus-level occupancies and genera with larger niche breadths than early burst families. However, they do not preferentially show ecological modes known to protect against extinction. We interpret the rise of the long-lag families as reflecting an intensification of ecosystem-level mechanisms supporting both long-term coexistence and transient dynamics, which increased the capacity of marine ecosystems to accommodate highly diverse communities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Björn Kröger
- Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
| | - Amelia Penny
- Finnish Museum of Natural History, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
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24
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Jones KE, Gonzalez S, Angielczyk KD, Pierce SE. Regionalization of the axial skeleton predates functional adaptation in the forerunners of mammals. Nat Ecol Evol 2020; 4:470-478. [PMID: 32015524 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-020-1094-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 36] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2019] [Accepted: 01/02/2020] [Indexed: 11/10/2022]
Abstract
The evolution of semi-independent modules is hypothesized to underlie the functional diversification of serially repeating (metameric) structures. The mammal vertebral column is a classic example of a metameric structure that is both modular, with well-defined morphological regions, and functionally differentiated. How the evolution of regions is related to their functional differentiation in the forerunners of mammals remains unclear. Here we gathered morphometric and biomechanical data on the presacral vertebrae of two extant species that bracket the synapsid-mammal transition and use the relationship between form and function to predict functional differentiation in extinct non-mammalian synapsids. The origin of vertebral functional diversity does not correlate with the evolution of new regions but appears late in synapsid evolution. This decoupling of regions from functional diversity implies that an adaptive trigger is needed to exploit existing modularity. We propose that the release of axial respiratory constraints, combined with selection for novel mammalian behaviours in Late Triassic cynodonts, drove the functional divergence of pre-existing morphological regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katrina E Jones
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
| | - Sarah Gonzalez
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA, USA
| | - Kenneth D Angielczyk
- Negaunee Integrative Research Center, Field Museum of Natural History, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Stephanie E Pierce
- Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology, Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
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26
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Platt JL, Cascalho M, Piedrahita JA. Xenotransplantation: Progress Along Paths Uncertain from Models to Application. ILAR J 2019; 59:286-308. [PMID: 30541147 DOI: 10.1093/ilar/ily015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2017] [Revised: 08/23/2018] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
For more than a century, transplantation of tissues and organs from animals into man, xenotransplantation, has been viewed as a potential way to treat disease. Ironically, interest in xenotransplantation was fueled especially by successful application of allotransplantation, that is, transplantation of human tissue and organs, as a treatment for a variety of diseases, especially organ failure because scarcity of human tissues limited allotransplantation to a fraction of those who could benefit. In principle, use of animals such as pigs as a source of transplants would allow transplantation to exert a vastly greater impact than allotransplantation on medicine and public health. However, biological barriers to xenotransplantation, including immunity of the recipient, incompatibility of biological systems, and transmission of novel infectious agents, are believed to exceed the barriers to allotransplantation and presently to hinder clinical applications. One way potentially to address the barriers to xenotransplantation is by genetic engineering animal sources. The last 2 decades have brought progressive advances in approaches that can be applied to genetic modification of large animals. Application of these approaches to genetic engineering of pigs has contributed to dramatic improvement in the outcome of experimental xenografts in nonhuman primates and have encouraged the development of a new type of xenograft, a reverse xenograft, in which human stem cells are introduced into pigs under conditions that support differentiation and expansion into functional tissues and potentially organs. These advances make it appropriate to consider the potential limitation of genetic engineering and of current models for advancing the clinical applications of xenotransplantation and reverse xenotransplantation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jeffrey L Platt
- Surgery, Microbiology & Immunology, and Transplantation Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Marilia Cascalho
- Surgery, Microbiology & Immunology, and Transplantation Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Jorge A Piedrahita
- Translational Medicine and The Comparative Medicine Institute, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
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27
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Affiliation(s)
- David Jablonski
- Department of Geophysical Sciences University of Chicago Chicago Illinois
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28
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Jackson ISC. Developmental bias in the fossil record. Evol Dev 2019; 22:88-102. [PMID: 31475437 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12312] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/28/2019] [Revised: 08/05/2019] [Accepted: 08/06/2019] [Indexed: 12/11/2022]
Abstract
The role of developmental bias and plasticity in evolution is a central research interest in evolutionary biology. Studies of these concepts and related processes are usually conducted on extant systems and have seen limited investigation in the fossil record. Here, I identify plasticity-led evolution (PLE) as a form of developmental bias accessible through scrutiny of paleontological material. I summarize the process of PLE and describe it in terms of the environmentally mediated accumulation and release of cryptic genetic variation. Given this structure, I then predict its manifestation in the fossil record, discuss its similarity to quantum evolution and punctuated equilibrium, and argue that these describe macroevolutionary patterns concordant with PLE. Finally, I suggest methods and directions towards providing evidence of PLE in the fossil record and conclude that such endeavors are likely to be highly rewarding.
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29
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Gilbert SF. Developmental symbiosis facilitates the multiple origins of herbivory. Evol Dev 2019; 22:154-164. [PMID: 31332951 DOI: 10.1111/ede.12291] [Citation(s) in RCA: 15] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/30/2019] [Revised: 02/22/2019] [Accepted: 02/28/2019] [Indexed: 01/05/2023]
Abstract
Developmental bias toward particular evolutionary trajectories can be facilitated through symbiosis. Organisms are holobionts, consisting of zygote-derived cells and a consortia of microbes, and the development, physiology, and immunity of animals are properties of complex interactions between the zygote-derived cells and microbial symbionts. Such symbionts can be agents of developmental plasticity, allowing an organism to develop in particular directions. This plasticity can lead to genetic assimilation either through the incorporation of microbial genes into host genomes or through the direct maternal transmission of the microbes. Such plasticity can lead to niche construction, enabling the microbes to remodel host anatomy and/or physiology. In this article, I will focus on the ability of symbionts to bias development toward the evolution of herbivory. I will posit that the behavioral and morphological manifestations of herbivorous phenotypes must be preceded by the successful establishment of a community of symbiotic microbes that can digest cell walls and detoxify plant poisons. The ability of holobionts to digest plant materials can range from being a plastic trait, dependent on the transient incorporation of environmental microbes, to becoming a heritable trait of the holobiont organism, transmitted through the maternal propagation of symbionts or their genes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott F Gilbert
- Department of Biology, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, Pennsylvania
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30
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Affiliation(s)
- Douglas H. Erwin
- Department of Paleobiology, MRC-121, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, District of Columbia
- Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, New Mexico
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31
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Ackermann RR, Arnold ML, Baiz MD, Cahill JA, Cortés-Ortiz L, Evans BJ, Grant BR, Grant PR, Hallgrimsson B, Humphreys RA, Jolly CJ, Malukiewicz J, Percival CJ, Ritzman TB, Roos C, Roseman CC, Schroeder L, Smith FH, Warren KA, Wayne RK, Zinner D. Hybridization in human evolution: Insights from other organisms. Evol Anthropol 2019; 28:189-209. [PMID: 31222847 PMCID: PMC6980311 DOI: 10.1002/evan.21787] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2018] [Revised: 01/30/2019] [Accepted: 04/30/2019] [Indexed: 12/14/2022]
Abstract
During the late Pleistocene, isolated lineages of hominins exchanged genes thus influencing genomic variation in humans in both the past and present. However, the dynamics of this genetic exchange and associated phenotypic consequences through time remain poorly understood. Gene exchange across divergent lineages can result in myriad outcomes arising from these dynamics and the environmental conditions under which it occurs. Here we draw from our collective research across various organisms, illustrating some of the ways in which gene exchange can structure genomic/phenotypic diversity within/among species. We present a range of examples relevant to questions about the evolution of hominins. These examples are not meant to be exhaustive, but rather illustrative of the diverse evolutionary causes/consequences of hybridization, highlighting potential drivers of human evolution in the context of hybridization including: influences on adaptive evolution, climate change, developmental systems, sex-differences in behavior, Haldane's rule and the large X-effect, and transgressive phenotypic variation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca R. Ackermann
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
- Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | | | - Marcella D. Baiz
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - James A. Cahill
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, California
| | - Liliana Cortés-Ortiz
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Ben J. Evans
- Biology Department, Life Sciences Building, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
| | - B. Rosemary Grant
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
| | - Peter R. Grant
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey
| | - Benedikt Hallgrimsson
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
| | - Robyn A. Humphreys
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
- Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | - Clifford J. Jolly
- Center for the Study of Human Origins, Department of Anthropology, New York University, and NYCEP, New York, New York
| | - Joanna Malukiewicz
- Biodesign Institute, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona
- Federal University of Vicosa, Department of Animal Biology, Brazil
| | - Christopher J. Percival
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada
- Department of Anthropology, Stony Brook University, New York
| | - Terrence B. Ritzman
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
- Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri
- Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
| | - Christian Roos
- Primate Genetics Laboratory, German Primate Center (DPZ), Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Charles C. Roseman
- Department of Animal Biology, School of Integrative Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois
| | - Lauren Schroeder
- Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
- Department of Anthropology, University of Toronto Mississauga, Mississauga, Canada
| | - Fred H. Smith
- Department of Sociology and Anthropology, Illinois State University, Normal, Illinois
| | - Kerryn A. Warren
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
- Human Evolution Research Institute, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South Africa
| | | | - Dietmar Zinner
- Cognitive Ethology Laboratory, German Primate Center (DPZ), Leibniz Institute for Primate Research, Göttingen, Germany
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32
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Daane JM, Dornburg A, Smits P, MacGuigan DJ, Brent Hawkins M, Near TJ, William Detrich Iii H, Harris MP. Historical contingency shapes adaptive radiation in Antarctic fishes. Nat Ecol Evol 2019; 3:1102-1109. [PMID: 31182814 PMCID: PMC7147983 DOI: 10.1038/s41559-019-0914-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/27/2018] [Accepted: 05/02/2019] [Indexed: 12/02/2022]
Abstract
Adaptive radiation illustrates links between ecological opportunity, natural selection and the generation of biodiversity. Central to adaptive radiation is the association between a diversifying lineage and the evolution of phenotypic variation that facilitates the use of new environments or resources. However, is not clear whether adaptive evolution or historical contingency is more important for the origin of key phenotypic traits in adaptive radiation. Here we use targeted sequencing of >250,000 loci across 46 species to examine hypotheses concerning the origin and diversification of key traits in the adaptive radiation of Antarctic notothenioid fishes. Contrary to expectations of adaptive evolution, we show that notothenioids experienced a punctuated burst of genomic diversification and evolved key skeletal modifications before the onset of polar conditions in the Southern Ocean. We show that diversifying selection in pathways associated with human skeletal dysplasias facilitates ecologically important variation in buoyancy among Antarctic notothenioid species, and demonstrate the sufficiency of altered trip11, col1a2 and col1a1a function in zebrafish (Danio rerio) to phenocopy skeletal reduction in Antarctic notothenioids. Rather than adaptation being driven by the cooling of the Antarctic, our results highlight the role of historical contingency in shaping the adaptive radiation of notothenioids. Understanding the historical and environmental context for the origin of key traits in adaptive radiations extends beyond reconstructing events that result in evolutionary innovation, as it also provides a context in forecasting the effects of climate change on the stability and evolvability of natural populations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jacob M Daane
- Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University Marine Science Center, Nahant, MA, USA.
| | - Alex Dornburg
- North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, Raleigh, NC, USA
| | - Patrick Smits
- Orthopaedic Research Laboratories, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Daniel J MacGuigan
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - M Brent Hawkins
- Orthopaedic Research Laboratories, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
- Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Thomas J Near
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
- Peabody Museum of Natural History, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - H William Detrich Iii
- Department of Marine and Environmental Sciences, Northeastern University Marine Science Center, Nahant, MA, USA.
| | - Matthew P Harris
- Orthopaedic Research Laboratories, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
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33
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Stanchak KE, Arbour JH, Santana SE. Anatomical diversification of a skeletal novelty in bat feet. Evolution 2019; 73:1591-1603. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.13786] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/21/2018] [Revised: 05/05/2019] [Accepted: 05/18/2019] [Indexed: 12/30/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Kathryn E. Stanchak
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture University of Washington Seattle Washington 98195
| | - Jessica H. Arbour
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture University of Washington Seattle Washington 98195
| | - Sharlene E. Santana
- Department of Biology and Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture University of Washington Seattle Washington 98195
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34
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Dresow M. Macroevolution evolving: Punctuated equilibria and the roots of Stephen Jay Gould's second macroevolutionary synthesis. STUDIES IN HISTORY AND PHILOSOPHY OF BIOLOGICAL AND BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES 2019; 75:15-23. [PMID: 30679066 DOI: 10.1016/j.shpsc.2019.01.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/12/2017] [Revised: 05/30/2018] [Accepted: 01/02/2019] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Affiliation(s)
- Max Dresow
- Department of Philosophy, Minnesota Center for Philosophy of Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
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35
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Slater GJ, Friscia AR. Hierarchy in adaptive radiation: A case study using the Carnivora (Mammalia). Evolution 2019; 73:524-539. [DOI: 10.1111/evo.13689] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 12.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2018] [Accepted: 01/13/2019] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Graham J. Slater
- Department of the Geophysical SciencesUniversity of ChicagoChicago Illinois 60637
| | - Anthony R. Friscia
- Department of Integrative Biology and PhysiologyUniversity of CaliforniaLos Angeles California 90095
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36
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Multiple Components of Phylogenetic Non-stationarity in the Evolution of Brain Size in Fossil Hominins. Evol Biol 2019. [DOI: 10.1007/s11692-019-09471-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/16/2023]
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37
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Phylogenetic Comparative Methods can Provide Important Insights into the Evolution of Toxic Weaponry. Toxins (Basel) 2018; 10:toxins10120518. [PMID: 30563097 PMCID: PMC6315408 DOI: 10.3390/toxins10120518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/01/2018] [Revised: 11/14/2018] [Accepted: 12/03/2018] [Indexed: 11/24/2022] Open
Abstract
The literature on chemical weaponry of organisms is vast and provides a rich understanding of the composition and mechanisms of the toxins and other components involved. However, an ecological or evolutionary perspective has often been lacking and is largely limited to (1) molecular evolutionary studies of particular toxins (lacking an ecological view); (2) comparisons across different species that ignore phylogenetic relatedness (lacking an evolutionary view); or (3) descriptive studies of venom composition and toxicology that contain post hoc and untested ecological or evolutionary interpretations (a common event but essentially uninformative speculation). Conveniently, comparative biologists have prolifically been developing and using a wide range of phylogenetic comparative methods that allow us to explicitly address many ecological and evolutionary questions relating to venoms and poisons. Nevertheless, these analytical tools and approaches are rarely used and poorly known by biological toxinologists and toxicologists. In this review I aim to (1) introduce phylogenetic comparative methods to the latter audience; (2) highlight the range of questions that can be addressed using them; and (3) encourage biological toxinologists and toxicologists to either seek out adequate training in comparative biology or seek collaboration with comparative biologists to reap the fruits of a powerful interdisciplinary approach to the field.
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38
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Developmental Bias and Evolution: A Regulatory Network Perspective. Genetics 2018; 209:949-966. [PMID: 30049818 DOI: 10.1534/genetics.118.300995] [Citation(s) in RCA: 90] [Impact Index Per Article: 15.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/28/2017] [Accepted: 04/19/2018] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Phenotypic variation is generated by the processes of development, with some variants arising more readily than others-a phenomenon known as "developmental bias." Developmental bias and natural selection have often been portrayed as alternative explanations, but this is a false dichotomy: developmental bias can evolve through natural selection, and bias and selection jointly influence phenotypic evolution. Here, we briefly review the evidence for developmental bias and illustrate how it is studied empirically. We describe recent theory on regulatory networks that explains why the influence of genetic and environmental perturbation on phenotypes is typically not uniform, and may even be biased toward adaptive phenotypic variation. We show how bias produced by developmental processes constitutes an evolving property able to impose direction on adaptive evolution and influence patterns of taxonomic and phenotypic diversity. Taking these considerations together, we argue that it is not sufficient to accommodate developmental bias into evolutionary theory merely as a constraint on evolutionary adaptation. The influence of natural selection in shaping developmental bias, and conversely, the influence of developmental bias in shaping subsequent opportunities for adaptation, requires mechanistic models of development to be expanded and incorporated into evolutionary theory. A regulatory network perspective on phenotypic evolution thus helps to integrate the generation of phenotypic variation with natural selection, leaving evolutionary biology better placed to explain how organisms adapt and diversify.
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39
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Muñoz MM, Hu Y, Anderson PSL, Patek SN. Strong biomechanical relationships bias the tempo and mode of morphological evolution. eLife 2018; 7:e37621. [PMID: 30091704 PMCID: PMC6133543 DOI: 10.7554/elife.37621] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/16/2018] [Accepted: 08/08/2018] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The influence of biomechanics on the tempo and mode of morphological evolution is unresolved, yet is fundamental to organismal diversification. Across multiple four-bar linkage systems in animals, we discovered that rapid morphological evolution (tempo) is associated with mechanical sensitivity (strong correlation between a mechanical system's output and one or more of its components). Mechanical sensitivity is explained by size: the smallest link(s) are disproportionately affected by length changes and most strongly influence mechanical output. Rate of evolutionary change (tempo) is greatest in the smallest links and trait shifts across phylogeny (mode) occur exclusively via the influential, small links. Our findings illuminate the paradigms of many-to-one mapping, mechanical sensitivity, and constraints: tempo and mode are dominated by strong correlations that exemplify mechanical sensitivity, even in linkage systems known for exhibiting many-to-one mapping. Amidst myriad influences, mechanical sensitivity imparts distinct, predictable footprints on morphological diversity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Martha M Muñoz
- Department of Biological SciencesVirginia TechBlacksburgUnited States
- Department of BiologyDuke UniversityDurhamUnited States
| | - Y Hu
- Department of Biological SciencesUniversity of Rhode IslandKingstonUnited States
| | - Philip S L Anderson
- Department of Animal BiologyUniversity of IllinoisUrbana-ChampaignUnited States
| | - SN Patek
- Department of BiologyDuke UniversityDurhamUnited States
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40
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Modularity promotes morphological divergence in ray-finned fishes. Sci Rep 2018; 8:7278. [PMID: 29740131 PMCID: PMC5940925 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-018-25715-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2017] [Accepted: 04/23/2018] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Modularity is considered a prerequisite for the evolvability of biological systems. This is because in theory, individual modules can follow quasi-independent evolutionary trajectories or evolve at different rates compared to other aspects of the organism. This may influence the potential of some modules to diverge, leading to differences in disparity. Here, we investigated this relationship between modularity, rates of morphological evolution and disparity using a phylogenetically diverse sample of ray-finned fishes. We compared the support for multiple hypotheses of evolutionary modularity and asked if the partitions delimited by the best-fitting models were also characterized by the highest evolutionary rate differentials. We found that an evolutionary module incorporating the dorsal, anal and paired fins was well supported by the data, and that this module evolves more rapidly and consequently generates more disparity than other modules. This suggests that modularity may indeed promote morphological disparity through differences in evolutionary rates across modules.
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41
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Levis NA, Pfennig DW. Phenotypic plasticity, canalization, and the origins of novelty: Evidence and mechanisms from amphibians. Semin Cell Dev Biol 2018; 88:80-90. [PMID: 29408711 DOI: 10.1016/j.semcdb.2018.01.012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/18/2017] [Revised: 01/25/2018] [Accepted: 01/29/2018] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
Abstract
A growing number of biologists have begun asking whether environmentally induced phenotypic change--'phenotypic plasticity'--precedes and facilitates the origin and canalization of novel, complex phenotypes. However, such 'plasticity-first evolution' (PFE) remains controversial. Here, we summarize the PFE hypothesis and describe how it can be evaluated in natural systems. We then review the evidence for PFE from amphibians (a group in which phenotypic plasticity is especially widespread) and describe how phenotypic plasticity might have facilitated macroevolutionary change. Finally, we discuss what is known about the proximate mechanisms of PFE in amphibians. We close with suggestions for future research. As we describe, amphibians offer some of the best support for plasticity's role in the origin of evolutionary novelties.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nicholas A Levis
- Department of Biology, CB#3280, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA
| | - David W Pfennig
- Department of Biology, CB#3280, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599, USA.
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42
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A tip of the hat to evolutionary change. Nature 2017; 552:35-37. [PMID: 29220002 DOI: 10.1038/d41586-017-07440-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
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43
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Jablonski D. Approaches to Macroevolution: 2. Sorting of Variation, Some Overarching Issues, and General Conclusions. Evol Biol 2017; 44:451-475. [PMID: 29142334 PMCID: PMC5661022 DOI: 10.1007/s11692-017-9434-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/31/2017] [Accepted: 10/04/2017] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Approaches to macroevolution require integration of its two fundamental components, within a hierarchical framework. Following a companion paper on the origin of variation, I here discuss sorting within an evolutionary hierarchy. Species sorting-sometimes termed species selection in the broad sense, meaning differential origination and extinction owing to intrinsic biological properties-can be split into strict-sense species selection, in which rate differentials are governed by emergent, species-level traits such as geographic range size, and effect macroevolution, in which rates are governed by organism-level traits such as body size; both processes can create hitchhiking effects, indirectly causing the proliferation or decline of other traits. Several methods can operationalize the concept of emergence, so that rigorous separation of these processes is increasingly feasible. A macroevolutionary tradeoff, underlain by the intrinsic traits that influence evolutionary dynamics, causes speciation and extinction rates to covary in many clades, resulting in evolutionary volatility of some clades and more subdued behavior of others; the few clades that break the tradeoff can achieve especially prolific diversification. In addition to intrinsic biological traits at multiple levels, extrinsic events can drive the waxing and waning of clades, and the interaction of traits and events are difficult but important to disentangle. Evolutionary trends can arise in many ways, and at any hierarchical level; descriptive models can be fitted to clade trajectories in phenotypic or functional spaces, but they may not be diagnostic regarding processes, and close attention must be paid to both leading and trailing edges of apparent trends. Biotic interactions can have negative or positive effects on taxonomic diversity within a clade, but cannot be readily extrapolated from the nature of such interactions at the organismic level. The relationships among macroevolutionary currencies through time (taxonomic richness, morphologic disparity, functional variety) are crucial for understanding the nature of evolutionary diversification. A novel approach to diversity-disparity analysis shows that taxonomic diversifications can lag behind, occur in concert with, or precede, increases in disparity. Some overarching issues relating to both the origin and sorting of clades and phenotypes include the macroevolutionary role of mass extinctions, the potential differences between plant and animal macroevolution, whether macroevolutionary processes have changed through geologic time, and the growing human impact on present-day macroevolution. Many challenges remain, but progress is being made on two of the key ones: (a) the integration of variation-generating mechanisms and the multilevel sorting processes that act on that variation, and (b) the integration of paleontological and neontological approaches to historical biology.
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Affiliation(s)
- David Jablonski
- Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, 5734 South Ellis Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637 USA
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