ECOLOGICAL OPPORTUNITY AND THE RATE OF MORPHOLOGICAL EVOLUTION IN THE DIVERSIFICATION OF GREATER ANTILLEAN ANOLES

2010/04/30 by D. Luke Mahler, Liam J. Revell, Richard E. Glor +1 · 485 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Environmental Science · #Adaptive radiation #Amphibian and Reptile Biology #Anolis #Biology #Diversification (marketing strategy) #Ecology #Evolution and Paleontology Studies #Evolutionary biology #Lizard #Phenotypic plasticity #Phylogenetic tree #Species Distribution and Climate Change

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/j.1558-5646.2010.01026.x

published in Evolution 64(9), 2731-2745 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2010/04/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

The pace of phenotypic diversification during adaptive radiation should decrease as ecological opportunity declines. We test this prediction using phylogenetic comparative analyses of a wide range of morphological traits in Greater Antillean Anolis lizards. We find that the rate of diversification along two important axes of Anolis radiation-body size and limb dimensions-decreased as opportunity declined, with opportunity quantified either as time elapsed in the radiation or as the diversity of competing anole lineages inferred to have been present on an island at different times in the past. Most previous studies of the ecological opportunity hypothesis have focused on the rate of species diversification; our results provide a complementary perspective, indicating that the rate of phenotypic diversification declines with decreasing opportunity in an adaptive radiation.

Citations

• SIZE-CORRECTION AND PRINCIPAL COMPONENTS FOR INTERSPECIFIC COMPARATIVE STUDIES
• Homage to Santa Rosalia or Why Are There So Many Kinds of Animals?
• DIVERGENT TIMING AND PATTERNS OF SPECIES ACCUMULATION IN LOWLAND AND HIGHLAND NEOTROPICAL BIRDS

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