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Trophic specialization influences the rate of environmental niche evolution in damselfishes (Pomacentridae)

  • Litsios, Glenn Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland - Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Pellissier, Loïc Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland
  • Forest, Félix Jodrell Laboratory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, UK
  • Lexer, Christian Unit of Ecology and Evolution, Department of Biology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Pearman, Peter B. Landscape Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
  • Zimmermann, Niklaus E. Landscape Dynamics, Swiss Federal Research Institute, Birmensdorf, Switzerland
  • Salamin, Nicolas Department of Ecology and Evolution, University of Lausanne, Switzerland - Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland
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    20.06.2012
Published in:
  • Proceedings of the Royal Society B - Biological Sciences. - 2012, vol. 279, no. 1743, p. 3662-3669
trophic specialization
environmental niche
phylogenetic niche conservatism
evolutionary rate heterogeneity
evolutionary model
English The rate of environmental niche evolution describes the capability of species to explore the available environmental space and is known to vary among species owing to lineage-specific factors. Trophic specialization is a main force driving species evolution and is responsible for classical examples of adaptive radiations in fishes. We investigate the effect of trophic specialization on the rate of environmental niche evolution in the damselfish, Pomacentridae, which is an important family of tropical reef fishes. First, phylogenetic niche conservatism is not detected in the family using a standard test of phylogenetic signal, and we demonstrate that the environmental niches of damselfishes that differ in trophic specialization are not equivalent while they still overlap at their mean values. Second, we estimate the relative rates of niche evolution on the phylogenetic tree and show the heterogeneity among rates of environmental niche evolution of the three trophic groups. We suggest that behavioural characteristics related to trophic specialization can constrain the evolution of the environmental niche and lead to conserved niches in specialist lineages. Our results show the extent of influence of several traits on the evolution of the environmental niche and shed new light on the evolution of damselfishes, which is a key lineage in current efforts to conserve biodiversity in coral reefs.
Faculty
Faculté des sciences et de médecine
Department
Département de Biologie
Language
  • English
Classification
Biological sciences
License
License undefined
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Persistent URL
https://folia.unifr.ch/unifr/documents/302463
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