Disruptive natural selection predicts divergence between the sexes during adaptive radiation.

ABSTRACT: Evolution of sexual dimorphism in ecologically relevant traits, for example, via resource competition between the sexes, is traditionally envisioned to stall the progress of adaptive radiation. An alternative view is that evolution of ecological sexual dimorphism could in fact play an important positive role by facilitating sex-specific adaptation. How competition-driven disruptive selection, ecological sexual dimorphism, and speciation interact during real adaptive radiations is thus a critical and open empirical question. Here, we examine the relationships between these three processes in a clade of salamanders that has recently radiated into divergent niches associated with an aquatic life cycle. We find that morphological divergence between the sexes has occurred in a combination of he

SUBMITTER: De Lisle SP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5433998 | biostudies-literature | 2017 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature