Unexpectedly uneven distribution of functional trade-offs explains cranial morphological diversity in carnivores.

ABSTRACT: Functional trade-offs can affect patterns of morphological and ecological evolution as well as the magnitude of morphological changes through evolutionary time. Using morpho-functional landscape modelling on the cranium of 132 carnivore species, we focused on the macroevolutionary effects of the trade-off between bite force and bite velocity. Here, we show that rates of evolution in form (morphology) are decoupled from rates of evolution in function. Further, we found theoretical morphologies optimising for velocity to be more diverse, while a much smaller phenotypic space was occupied by shapes optimising force. This pattern of differential representation of different functions in theoretical morphological space was highly correlated with patterns of actual morphological disparity. We hyp

SUBMITTER: Sansalone G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11021405 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature