Rare ecomorphological convergence on a complex adaptive landscape: Body size and diet mediate evolution of jaw shape in squirrels (Sciuridae)
2017/01/11 by Miriam Leah Zelditch, Ji Ye, Jonathan S. Mitchell +1 · 119 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · Mathematics · #Adaptation (eye) #Adaptive radiation #Animal Ecology and Behavior Studies #Biology #Coevolution #Constraint (computer-aided design) #Convergence (economics) #Convergent evolution #Ecology #Ecomorphology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Evolutionary biology #Limiting #Morphological variations and asymmetry #Phylogenetics
paper · open access · doi:10.1111/evo.13168
published in Evolution 71(3), 633-649 (Oxford University Press)
openalex publication_date 2017/01/11 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/04
Abstract
Convergence is widely regarded as compelling evidence for adaptation, often being portrayed as evidence that phenotypic outcomes are predictable from ecology, overriding contingencies of history. However, repeated outcomes may be very rare unless adaptive landscapes are simple, structured by strong ecological and functional constraints. One such constraint may be a limitation on body size because performance often scales with size, allowing species to adapt to challenging functions by modifying only size. When size is constrained, species might adapt by changing shape; convergent shapes may therefore be common when size is limiting and functions are challenging. We examine the roles of size and diet as determinants of jaw shape in Sciuridae. As expected, size and diet have significant interdependent effects on jaw shape and ecomorphological convergence is rare, typically involving demanding diets and limiting sizes. More surprising is morphological without ecological convergence, which is equally common between and within dietary classes. Those cases, like rare ecomorphological convergence, may be consequences of evolving on an adaptive landscape shaped by many-to-many relationships between ecology and function, many-to-one relationships between form and performance, and one-to-many relationships between functionally versatile morphologies and ecology. On complex adaptive landscapes, ecological selection can yield different outcomes.
Citations
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