Widespread ecomorphological convergence in multiple fish families spanning the marine–freshwater interface

Abstract

The theoretical definition and quantification of convergence is an increasingly topical focus in evolutionary research, with particular growing interest on study scales spanning deep phylogenetic divergences and broad geographical areas. While much progress has recently been made in understanding the role of convergence in driving terrestrial (e.g. anole lizards) and aquatic (e.g. cichlids) radiations, little is known about its macroevolutionary effects across environmental gradients. This study uses a suite of recently developed comparative approaches integrating diverse aspects of morphology, dietary data, habitat affiliation and phylogeny to assess convergence across several well-known tropical-temperate fish families in the percomorph suborder Terapontoidei, a clade with considerable phenotypic and ecological diversity radiating in both marine and freshwater environments. We demonstrate significant widespread convergence across many lineages occupying equivalent trophic niches, particularly feeding habits such as herbivory and biting of attached prey off hard substrates. These include several examples of convergent morphotypes evolving independently in marine and freshwater clades, separated by deep evolutionary divergences (tens of millions of years). The Terapontoidei present a new example of the macroevolutionary dynamics of morphological and ecological coevolution in relation to habitat and trophic preferences, at a greater phylogenetic and habitat scale than most well-studied adaptive radiations.

Cope's rule and the adaptive landscape of dinosaur body size evolution

“…However, stepwise AICc is known to provide support for overly complex models compared to the conservative pBIC criterion (Ho & Ané ; Khabbazian et al . ; Davis & Betancur‐R ). We therefore also implemented modified versions of the surface algorithm using pBIC in both the forward and backward phases, and using AICc in the forward phase followed by pBIC in the backward phase (mixed algorithm).…”

“…Because the number of possible shift configurations increases dramatically as shifts are added, and because AIC, AICc, and BIC (Bayesian information criterion) do not address the issue of false positives due to multiple comparisons, the surface algorithm is liberal, and tends to support overly complex models (Ho & Ané ; Khabbazian et al . ; Davis & Betancur‐R ). This has been forcefully demonstrated for ultrametric trees comprising only extant taxa (Ho & Ané ).…”

Environmental determinism, and not interspecific competition, drives morphological variability in Australasian warblers (Acanthizidae)

“…Dots are colored by geographic region according to the color coding shown in Figure 1The high degree of morphological resemblance observed across the entire radiation is mirrored in the results yielded by the SURFACE algorithm. SURFACE did not detect convergence across lineages occupying equivalent foraging niches as has been shown in other groups such as dragon lizards, boas, terapontid fishes, and myobatrachid frogs (e.g.,Collar, Schulte, O'Meara, & Losos, 2010;Davis & Betancur-R, 2017;Esquerré & Keogh, 2016;Reynolds et al, 2016;Vidal-García & Keogh, 2017). The only convergent regimes identified by SURFACE corresponded to monotypic genera and/or lineages that have colonized a novel and underexploited environment like Origma solitaria, the only acanthizid species strongly associated with rock formations.…”

A Total-Evidence Dated Phylogeny of Echinoids and the Evolution of Body Size across Adaptive Landscape

“…A common concern with OUM processes (especially the SURFACE algorithm) is their tendency to favor overly complex models (Ho and Ané 2014; Khabbazian et al 2016; Davis and Betancur-R 2017). Our results show that this might be a consequence of the unrealistic assumption of a common rate of evolution and common force of attraction operating across the entire tree.…”