Ecological constraints associated with genome size across salamander lineages.

ABSTRACT: Salamanders have some of the largest, and most variable, genome sizes among the vertebrates. Larger genomes have been associated with larger cell sizes, lower metabolic rates, and longer embryonic and larval durations in many different taxonomic groups. These life-history traits are often important for dictating fitness under different environmental conditions, suggesting that a species' genome size may have the potential to constrain its ecological distribution. We test how genome size varies with the ephemerality of larval habitat across the salamanders, predicting that species with larger genomes will be constrained to more permanent habitats that permit slower development, while species with smaller genomes will be more broadly distributed across the gradient of habitat ephemerality. W

SUBMITTER: Lertzman-Lepofsky G 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6784731 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature