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Re-thinking “adaptive radiation”

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File:Kaldari Liolaemus tenuis 01.jpg
Liolaemus/Kaldari

One of biology’s most important concepts, no?

From Pos-Darwinista:

A lizard lineage which has evolved over the last 19 million years has helped scientists to re-think one of the most important concepts of modern biology.

‘Adaptive radiation’ is recognised as a pillar of evolutionary science. It describes the development of new biodiversity, and is triggered when a species encounters a new environment with plenty of available resources –this is called ‘ecological opportunity’. This single species then makes the most of these resources and multiplies rapidly into several new forms. When all these resources have been used up by new species, the process of biodiversity proliferation slows down dramatically.

‘Early-bursts’ of new species diversification have previously been seen as a central part of this process – scientists have for decades referred to this trend as a key component of adaptive radiation. However, new research published in the academic journal BMC Evolutionary Biology suggests that the term should not be defined by these early rapid surges.

Here’s the abstract:

Background: Adaptive radiation theory posits that ecological opportunity promotes rapid proliferation of phylogenetic and ecological diversity. Given that adaptive radiation proceeds via occupation of available niche space in newly accessed ecological zones, theory predicts that: (i) evolutionary diversification follows an ‘early-burst’ process, i.e., it accelerates early in the history of a clade (when available niche space facilitates speciation), and subsequently slows down as niche space becomes saturated by new species; and (ii) phylogenetic branching is accompanied by diversification of ecologically relevant phenotypic traits among newly evolving species. Here, we employ macroevolutionary phylogenetic model-selection analyses to address these two predictions about evolutionary diversification using one of the most exceptionally species-rich and ecologically diverse lineages of living vertebrates, the South American lizard genus Liolaemus.

Results: Our phylogenetic analyses lend support to a density-dependent lineage diversification model. However, the lineage through-time diversification curve does not provide strong support for an early burst. In contrast, the evolution of phenotypic (body size) relative disparity is high, significantly different from a Brownian model during approximately the last 5 million years of Liolaemus evolution. Model-fitting analyses also reject the ‘early-burst’ model of phenotypic evolution, and instead favour stabilizing selection (Ornstein-Uhlenbeck, with three peaks identified) as the best model for body size diversification. Finally, diversification rates tend to increase with smaller body size.

Conclusions: Liolaemus have diversified under a density-dependent process with slightly pronounced apparent episodic pulses of lineage accumulation, which are compatible with the expected episodic ecological opportunity created by gradual uplifts of the Andes over the last ~25My. We argue that ecological opportunity can be strong and a crucial driver of adaptive radiations in continents, but may emerge less frequently (compared to islands) when major events (e.g., climatic, geographic) significantly modify environments. In contrast, body size diversification conforms to an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck model with multiple trait optima. Despite this asymmetric diversification between both lineages and phenotype, links are expected to exist between the two processes, as shown by our trait-dependent analyses of diversification. We finally suggest that the definition of adaptive radiation should not be conditioned by the existence of early-bursts of diversification, and should instead be generalized to lineages in which species and ecological diversity have evolved from a single ancestor. Open access – Daniel Pincheira-Donoso, Lilly P. Harvey, and Marcello Ruta

Thoughts?

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Here’s the little swine that challenges orthodoxy:

Comments
There is part of the genomic code that can and does vary, especially in reference to dose dependency – more or less of a protein, more or less cell growth. Organisms are very adaptable in these areas. But it is apples and oranges to compare this to evolution of exons and introns. These regions are highly evolutionarily constrained. To use the lizard size to explain evolution seems to me to be irrelevant. There are all sorts of built in adaptations. We all can acclimatize to the weather. Can we select for a taller race? Yes. But measure a protein now produced (in a different cell type), and a change in when a protein made is going to be expressed, or describe to me how a new protein measured by its involvement in an anatomical/biological change and the environment helped bring about this change. Then we are talking evolution.Tim AJ
August 25, 2015
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Tim AJ - I'm not sure what you're saying: I can't parse "But the sequence most variable is size." (what is the 'size sequence'?). Can you explain in a bit more detail, and perhaps also explain how this relates to the phylogeny that was actually used.Bob O'H
August 25, 2015
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Go to UCSC genome browser. Enter any human gene, about 4000 currently being tested. Turn on gerp track (Genomic Evolutionary Rate Profilin) and conservation track (make sure all vertebrates are selected). It's clear exons don't evolve much, the intronic regions are very similar but vary more in vertebrates because introns determine when and where proteins are expressed. But the sequence most variable is size. We see the difference even from person to person. Somehow in the "highly" scientific paper they are incapable of making this distinction. It kind of makes their research junk.Tim AJ
August 24, 2015
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