Life on the rocks: habitat use drives morphological and performance evolution in lizards
Goodman, Brett A., Miles, Donald B., and Schwarzkopf, Lin (2008) Life on the rocks: habitat use drives morphological and performance evolution in lizards. Ecology, 89 (12). pp. 3462-3471.
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Abstract
As a group, lizards occupy a vast array of habitats worldwide, yet there remain relatively few cases where habitat use (ecology), morphology, and thus, performance, are clearly related. The best known examples include: increased limb length in response to increased arboreal perch diameter in anoles and increased limb length in response to increased habitat openness for some skinks. Rocky habitats impose strong natural selection on specific morphological characteristics, which differs from that imposed on terrestrial species, because moving about on inclined substrates of irregular sizes and shapes constrains locomotor performance in predictable ways. We quantified habitat use, morphology, and performance of 19 species of lizards (family Scincidae, subfamily Lygosominae) from 23 populations in tropical Australia. These species use habitats with considerable variation in rock availability. Comparative phylogenetic analyses revealed that occupation of rock-dominated habitats correlated with the evolution of increased limb length, compared to species from forest habitats that predominantly occupied leaf litter. Moreover, increased limb length directly affected performance, with species from rocky habitats having greater sprinting, climbing, and clinging ability than their relatives from less rocky habitats. Thus, we found that the degree of rock use is correlated with both morphological and performance evolution in this group of tropical lizards.
Item ID: | 6239 |
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Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
ISSN: | 1939-9170 |
Keywords: | adaptation; comparative method; ecomorphology; habitat use; lizard; locomotion; performance; physiological ecology; rock use; Scincidae |
Additional Information: | Reproduced with permission from Ecological Society of America (ESA). |
Date Deposited: | 18 Jan 2010 02:17 |
FoR Codes: | 06 BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES > 0699 Other Biological Sciences > 069999 Biological Sciences not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
SEO Codes: | 96 ENVIRONMENT > 9608 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity > 960899 Flora, Fauna and Biodiversity of Environments not elsewhere classified @ 50% 97 EXPANDING KNOWLEDGE > 970106 Expanding Knowledge in the Biological Sciences @ 50% |
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