Phylogenetic patterns of trait and trait plasticity evolution: Insights from amphibian embryos.
Evolution
; 72(3): 663-678, 2018 03.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-29345312
ABSTRACT
Environmental variation favors the evolution of phenotypic plasticity. For many species, we understand the costs and benefits of different phenotypes, but we lack a broad understanding of how plastic traits evolve across large clades. Using identical experiments conducted across North America, we examined prey responses to predator cues. We quantified five life-history traits and the magnitude of their plasticity for 23 amphibian species/populations (spanning three families and five genera) when exposed to no cues, crushed-egg cues, and predatory crayfish cues. Embryonic responses varied considerably among species and phylogenetic signal was common among the traits, whereas phylogenetic signal was rare for trait plasticities. Among trait-evolution models, the Ornstein-Uhlenbeck (OU) model provided the best fit or was essentially tied with Brownian motion. Using the best fitting model, evolutionary rates for plasticities were higher than traits for three life-history traits and lower for two. These data suggest that the evolution of life-history traits in amphibian embryos is more constrained by a species' position in the phylogeny than is the evolution of life history plasticities. The fact that an OU model of trait evolution was often a good fit to patterns of trait variation may indicate adaptive optima for traits and their plasticities.
Key words
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Anura
/
Adaptation, Physiological
/
Olfactory Perception
/
Life History Traits
Type of study:
Prognostic_studies
Limits:
Animals
Country/Region as subject:
America do norte
Language:
En
Journal:
Evolution
Year:
2018
Document type:
Article