Metabolic physiology explains macroevolutionary trends in the melanic colour system across amniotes.

ABSTRACT: Metabolism links organisms to their environment through its effects on thermoregulation, feeding behaviour and energetics. Genes involved in metabolic processes have known pleiotropic effects on some melanic colour traits. Understanding links between physiology and melanic colour is critical for understanding the role of, and potential constraints on, colour production. Despite considerable variation in metabolic rates and presumed ancestral melanic coloration in vertebrates, few studies have looked at a potential relationship between these two systems in a comparative framework. Here, we test the hypothesis that changes in melanosome shape in integumentary structures track metabolic rate variation across amniotes. Using multivariate comparative analyses and incorporating both extant and f

SUBMITTER: Eliason CM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6304050 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature