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Habitat primary production and the evolution of body size within the hartebeest clade

Capellini, Isabella; Gosling, Leonard Morris

Authors

Isabella Capellini

Leonard Morris Gosling



Abstract

Local adaptation is a key process in the evolution of biological diversity but relatively few studies have identified the selective forces that drive trait divergence at low taxonomic levels, particularly amongst mammals. Variation in body size across taxa is fundamental as shown by allometric relationships with numerous physiological, morphological and life-history traits. Differences in adult size across cohorts within populations of temperate ungulates are determined by variation in trophic resource availability during growth, suggesting that natural selection might promote the evolution of size divergence across sister taxa through local adaptation to variation in habitat productivity. We tested this hypothesis in the hartebeest (Alcelaphus sp.), an antelope lineage including eight extant (or recently extinct) allopatric subspecies that evolved within the last million years and colonized all the African savannahs. We predicted that body size across the subspecies should correlate positively with habitat productivity across taxon ranges. Mean body size of all the hartebeest taxa was quantified using skull length from museum specimens, and climatic variables were used as surrogates of habitat productivity. Body size across subspecies was positively correlated with rainfall, suggesting that variation in habitat primary production may drive morphological evolution between taxa. Focusing at a low taxonomic level has allowed us to identify a critical selective force that may shape divergence in body size, without the confounding effect of variation in trophic niche.

Citation

Capellini, I., & Gosling, L. M. (2007). Habitat primary production and the evolution of body size within the hartebeest clade. Biological journal of the Linnean Society, 92(3), 431-440. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00883.x

Journal Article Type Article
Acceptance Date Dec 20, 2006
Online Publication Date Oct 17, 2007
Publication Date Nov 1, 2007
Journal BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY
Print ISSN 0024-4066
Publisher Oxford University Press
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 92
Issue 3
Pages 431-440
DOI https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00883.x
Keywords Alcelaphus; Antelopes; Body size; Bovidae; Geographical variation; Intraspecific variation; Local adaptation; Natural selection
Public URL https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/409397
Publisher URL https://academic.oup.com/biolinnean/article/92/3/431/2701333