Ecological specialization and morphological diversification in Greater Antillean boas
Average rating
Cast your vote
You can rate an item by clicking the amount of stars they wish to award to this item.
When enough users have cast their vote on this item, the average rating will also be shown.
Star rating
Your vote was cast
Thank you for your feedback
Thank you for your feedback
Date Issued
2016Author
Reynolds, R. GrahamCollar David C.
Pasachnik, Stesha A.
Niemiller Matthew L.
Puente-Rolón, Alberto R.
Revell, Liam J.
Journal
EvolutionVolume
70Issue
8Start page
1882End page
1895
Metadata
Show full item recordAlternative link
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/evo.12987https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/evo.12987
Abstract
Colonization of islands can dramatically influence the evolutionary trajectories of organisms, with both deterministic and stochastic processes driving adaptation and diversification. Some island colonists evolve extremely large or small body sizes, presumably in response to unique ecological circumstances present on islands. One example of this phenomenon, the Greater Antillean boas, includes both small (<90 cm) and large (4 m) species occurring on the Greater Antilles and Bahamas, with some islands supporting pairs or trios of body‐size divergent species. These boas have been shown to comprise a monophyletic radiation arising from a Miocene dispersal event to the Greater Antilles, though it is not known whether co‐occurrence of small and large species is a result of dispersal or in situ evolution. Here, we provide the first comprehensive species phylogeny for this clade combined with morphometric and ecological data to show that small body size evolved repeatedly on separate islands in association with specialization in substrate use. Our results further suggest that microhabitat specialization is linked to increased rates of head shape diversification among specialists. Our findings show that ecological specialization following island colonization promotes morphological diversity through deterministic body size evolution and cranial morphological diversification that is contingent on island‐ and species‐specific factors.Type
ArticleRights
© 2016 The Author(s). Evolution © 2016 The Society for the Study of Evolution.ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/evo.12987
Scopus Count
Collections