Type
ArticleKAUST Department
Biological and Environmental Sciences and Engineering (BESE) DivisionEnvironmental Science and Engineering Program
Red Sea Research Center (RSRC)
Date
2016-02-12Online Publication Date
2016-02-12Print Publication Date
2016-05Permanent link to this record
http://hdl.handle.net/10754/621451
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
© 2016 European Society For Evolutionary Biology. Morphological convergence plays a central role in the study of evolution. Often induced by shared ecological specialization, homoplasy hints at underlying selective pressures and adaptive constraints that deterministically shape the diversification of life. Although midwater zooplanktivory has arisen in adult surgeonfishes (family Acanthuridae) at least four independent times, it represents a clearly specialized state, requiring the capacity to swiftly swim in midwater locating and sucking small prey items. Whereas this diet has commonly been associated with specific functional adaptations in fishes, acanthurids present an interesting case study as all nonplanktivorous species feed by grazing on benthic algae and detritus, requiring a vastly different functional morphology that emphasizes biting behaviours. We examined the feeding morphology in 30 acanthurid species and, combined with a pre-existing phylogenetic tree, compared the fit of evolutionary models across two diet regimes: zooplanktivores and nonzooplanktivorous grazers. Accounting for phylogenetic relationships, the best-fitting model indicates that zooplanktivorous species are converging on a separate adaptive peak from their grazing relatives. Driving this bimodal landscape, zooplanktivorous acanthurids tend to develop a slender body, reduced facial features, smaller teeth and weakened jaw adductor muscles. However, despite these phenotypic changes, model fitting suggests that lineages have not yet reached the adaptive peak associated with plankton feeding even though some transitions appear to be over 10 million years old. These findings demonstrate that the selective demands of pelagic feeding promote repeated - albeit very gradual - ecomorphological convergence within surgeonfishes, while allowing local divergences between closely related species, contributing to the overall diversity of the clade. Journal of Evolutionary BiologyCitation
Friedman, S. T., Price, S. A., Hoey, A. S., & Wainwright, P. C. (2016). Ecomorphological convergence in planktivorous surgeonfishes. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 29(5), 965–978. doi:10.1111/jeb.12837Sponsors
The authors would like to thank Johanna Lee who helped obtain morphometric data from specimens. Funding for this research was provided by National Science Foundation grants IOS-0924489 and DEB-1061981 to PCW, and ARC DE130100688 to ASH.Publisher
WileyJournal
Journal of Evolutionary BiologyPubMed ID
26809907Additional Links
http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/jeb.12837https://rss.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/am-pdf/10.1111/jeb.12837
ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1111/jeb.12837
Scopus Count
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