Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga species
Abstract The morphological characteristics of birds are an important tool for studying their adaptation and evolution. The morphological evolution of a clade is not only constrained by the phylogenetic relationship, but also influenced by ecological factors and interspecific competition. Aethopyga i...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2023-09-01
|
| Series: | Ecology and Evolution |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10473 |
| _version_ | 1797542912812122112 |
|---|---|
| author | Wenzhu Lu Shimiao Shao Lingling Zu Xu Luo Yubao Duan |
| author_facet | Wenzhu Lu Shimiao Shao Lingling Zu Xu Luo Yubao Duan |
| author_sort | Wenzhu Lu |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract The morphological characteristics of birds are an important tool for studying their adaptation and evolution. The morphological evolution of a clade is not only constrained by the phylogenetic relationship, but also influenced by ecological factors and interspecific competition. Aethopyga is a group of small nectar‐eating birds with obvious sexual dimorphism. They have slender and decurved beaks, which reflect their unique diet and foraging mode. Traditional and geometric morphometrics were combined to characterize the body morphology and beak shape of six species of Aethopyga distributed in China. We aim to assess the roles of phylogeny, altitude, and species interactions to morphological evolution. The main distinguishing characteristic among these six species were overall body size, the ratio of body weight, culmen and tarsal length to body length, tail length and wing length, and beak shape (slender/straight vs. thick/decurved). Although these dimensions cannot distinguish all species, they can show a clear distribution trend, and there is a significant Mahalanobis distance between each pair of species. There were no significant phylogenetic signals in morphological traits. The results of PGLS analysis show that altitude is significantly correlated with log‐transformed tarsus length and beak‐shaped PC1 (slender/straight vs thick/decurved dimensions) across the six species analyzed. Mantel test shows that the distance matrix of beak morphological characteristics showed a significant correlation with the altitudinal distance matrix. The results indicated no significant phylogenetic signal in the morphological characteristics of six species. In terms of beak shape, species with greater overlap in elevation distribution have more similar morphological characteristics, that is, less morphological differentiation. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:37:16Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-e526bd1adaf4426ea5d935564d05c35c |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2045-7758 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T13:37:16Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Ecology and Evolution |
| spelling | doaj.art-e526bd1adaf4426ea5d935564d05c35c2023-11-21T07:26:25ZengWileyEcology and Evolution2045-77582023-09-01139n/an/a10.1002/ece3.10473Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga speciesWenzhu Lu0Shimiao Shao1Lingling Zu2Xu Luo3Yubao Duan4Key Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in Yunnan Southwest Forestry University Kunming ChinaState Key Laboratory for Diagnosis and Treatment of Infectious Diseases, The First Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine Hangzhou ChinaKey Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in Yunnan Southwest Forestry University Kunming ChinaKey Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in Yunnan Southwest Forestry University Kunming ChinaKey Laboratory for Conserving Wildlife with Small Populations in Yunnan Southwest Forestry University Kunming ChinaAbstract The morphological characteristics of birds are an important tool for studying their adaptation and evolution. The morphological evolution of a clade is not only constrained by the phylogenetic relationship, but also influenced by ecological factors and interspecific competition. Aethopyga is a group of small nectar‐eating birds with obvious sexual dimorphism. They have slender and decurved beaks, which reflect their unique diet and foraging mode. Traditional and geometric morphometrics were combined to characterize the body morphology and beak shape of six species of Aethopyga distributed in China. We aim to assess the roles of phylogeny, altitude, and species interactions to morphological evolution. The main distinguishing characteristic among these six species were overall body size, the ratio of body weight, culmen and tarsal length to body length, tail length and wing length, and beak shape (slender/straight vs. thick/decurved). Although these dimensions cannot distinguish all species, they can show a clear distribution trend, and there is a significant Mahalanobis distance between each pair of species. There were no significant phylogenetic signals in morphological traits. The results of PGLS analysis show that altitude is significantly correlated with log‐transformed tarsus length and beak‐shaped PC1 (slender/straight vs thick/decurved dimensions) across the six species analyzed. Mantel test shows that the distance matrix of beak morphological characteristics showed a significant correlation with the altitudinal distance matrix. The results indicated no significant phylogenetic signal in the morphological characteristics of six species. In terms of beak shape, species with greater overlap in elevation distribution have more similar morphological characteristics, that is, less morphological differentiation.https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10473Aethopygaaltitudedistribution overlapgeometric morphometricsmorphologyphylogenetic relationship |
| spellingShingle | Wenzhu Lu Shimiao Shao Lingling Zu Xu Luo Yubao Duan Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga species Ecology and Evolution Aethopyga altitude distribution overlap geometric morphometrics morphology phylogenetic relationship |
| title | Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga species |
| title_full | Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga species |
| title_fullStr | Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga species |
| title_full_unstemmed | Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga species |
| title_short | Morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of Aethopyga species |
| title_sort | morphological diversity and altitudinal differentiation of aethopyga species |
| topic | Aethopyga altitude distribution overlap geometric morphometrics morphology phylogenetic relationship |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.10473 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT wenzhulu morphologicaldiversityandaltitudinaldifferentiationofaethopygaspecies AT shimiaoshao morphologicaldiversityandaltitudinaldifferentiationofaethopygaspecies AT linglingzu morphologicaldiversityandaltitudinaldifferentiationofaethopygaspecies AT xuluo morphologicaldiversityandaltitudinaldifferentiationofaethopygaspecies AT yubaoduan morphologicaldiversityandaltitudinaldifferentiationofaethopygaspecies |