Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits

Chira, A. M.; Cooney, C. R.; Bright, J. A.; Capp, E. J. R.; Hughes, E. C.; Moody, C. J. A.; Nouri, L. O.; Varley, Z. K.; Thomas, G. H.

doi:10.1111/ele.13131

Authors

A. M. Chira

C. R. Cooney

Dr Jen Bright J.Bright@hull.ac.uk

E. J. R. Capp

E. C. Hughes

C. J. A. Moody

L. O. Nouri

Z. K. Varley

G. H. Thomas

Abstract

Heterogeneity in rates of trait evolution is widespread, but it remains unclear which processes drive fast and slow character divergence across global radiations. Here, we test multiple hypotheses for explaining rate variation in an ecomorphological trait (beak shape) across a globally distributed group (birds). We find low support that variation in evolutionary rates of species is correlated with life history, environmental mutagenic factors, range size, number of competitors, or living on islands. Indeed, after controlling for the negative effect of species' age, 80% of variation in species‐specific evolutionary rates remains unexplained. At the clade level, high evolutionary rates are associated with unusual phenotypes or high species richness. Taken together, these results imply that macroevolutionary rates of ecomorphological traits are governed by both ecological opportunity in distinct adaptive zones and niche differentiation among closely related species.

Citation

Capp, E. J., Moody, C. J., Chira, A. M., Cooney, C. R., Bright, J. A., Capp, E. J. R., …Thomas, G. H. (2018). Correlates of rate heterogeneity in avian ecomorphological traits. Ecology letters, 21(10), 1505-1514. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13131

Journal Article Type	Letter
Acceptance Date	Jul 5, 2018
Online Publication Date	Aug 21, 2018
Publication Date	2018-10
Deposit Date	Nov 28, 2019
Publicly Available Date	Dec 9, 2019
Journal	Ecology Letters
Print ISSN	1461-023X
Electronic ISSN	1461-0248
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	21
Issue	10
Pages	1505-1514
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13131
Keywords	Ecological opportunity; Morphological distinctiveness; Rate heterogeneity; Trait evolution
Public URL	https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/3267801
Publisher URL	https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/ele.13131

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©2018 The Authors. Ecology Letters published by CNRS and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use,distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.