Evolutionary transitions in diet influence the exceptional diversification of a lizard adaptive radiation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Diet is a key component of a species ecological niche and plays critical roles in guiding the trajectories of evolutionary change. Previous studies suggest that dietary evolution can influence the rates and patterns of species diversification, with omnivorous (animal and plant, 'generalist') diets slowing down diversification compared to more restricted ('specialist') herbivorous and carnivorous diets. This hypothesis, here termed the "dietary macroevolutionary sink" hypothesis (DMS), predicts that transitions to omnivorous diets occur at higher rates than into any specialist diet, and omnivores are expected to have the lowest diversification rates, causing an evolutionary sink into a single type of diet. However, evidence for the DMS hypothesis remains conflicting. Here

SUBMITTER: Ocampo M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9175459 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature