Species Selection Favors Dispersive Life Histories in Sea Slugs, but Higher Per-Offspring Investment Drives Shifts to Short-Lived Larvae.

ABSTRACT: For 40 years, paleontological studies of marine gastropods have suggested that species selection favors lineages with short-lived (lecithotrophic) larvae, which are less dispersive than long-lived (planktotrophic) larvae. Although lecithotrophs appeared to speciate more often and accumulate over time in some groups, lecithotrophy also increased extinction rates, and tests for state-dependent diversification were never performed. Molecular phylogenies of diverse groups instead suggested lecithotrophs accumulate without diversifying due to frequent, unidirectional character change. Although lecithotrophy has repeatedly originated in most phyla, no adult trait has been correlated with shifts in larval type. Thus, both the evolutionary origins of lecithotrophy and its consequences for patterns

SUBMITTER: Krug PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4794617 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature