The signature of competition in ecomorphological traits across the avian radiation.

ABSTRACT: Competition for shared resources represents a fundamental driver of biological diversity. However, the tempo and mode of phenotypic evolution in deep-time has been predominantly investigated using trait evolutionary models which assume that lineages evolve independently from each other. Consequently, the role of species interactions in driving macroevolutionary dynamics remains poorly understood. Here, we quantify the prevalence for signatures of competition between related species in the evolution of ecomorphological traits across the bird radiation. We find that mechanistic trait models accounting for the effect of species interactions on phenotypic divergence provide the best fit for the data on at least one trait axis in 27 out of 59 clades ranging between 21 and 195 species. Where it

SUBMITTER: Chira AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7735287 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature