Ecomorphological disparity in an adaptive radiation: opercular bone shape and stable isotopes in Antarctic icefishes.

ABSTRACT: To assess how ecological and morphological disparity is interrelated in the adaptive radiation of Antarctic notothenioid fish we used patterns of opercle bone evolution as a model to quantify shape disparity, phylogenetic patterns of shape evolution, and ecological correlates in the form of stable isotope values. Using a sample of 25 species including representatives from four major notothenioid clades, we show that opercle shape disparity is higher in the modern fauna than would be expected under the neutral evolution Brownian motion model. Phylogenetic comparative methods indicate that opercle shape data best fit a model of directional selection (Ornstein-Uhlenbeck) and are least supported by the "early burst" model of adaptive radiation. The main evolutionary axis of opercle shape chang

SUBMITTER: Wilson LA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3790559 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature