Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
https://hdl.handle.net/2440/139907
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Type: | Journal article |
Title: | Evolutionary transition from surface to subterranean living in Australian water beetles (Coleoptera, Dytiscidae) through adaptive and relaxed selection |
Author: | Zhao, Y. Guzik, M. Humphreys, W. Watts, C. Cooper, S. Sherratt, E. |
Citation: | Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2023 |
Publisher: | Oxford University Press (OUP) |
Issue Date: | 2023 |
ISSN: | 0024-4066 1095-8312 |
Statement of Responsibility: | Yuxuan Zhao, Michelle T. Guzik, William F. Humphreys, Christopher H.S. Watts, Steven J.B. Cooper, Emma Sherratt |
Abstract: | Over the last 5 million years, numerous species of Australian stygobiotic (subterranean and aquatic) beetles have evolved underground following independent colonisation of aquifers by surface ancestors, providing a set of repeated evolutionary transitions from surface to subterranean life. We used this system as an ‘evolutionary experiment’ to investigate whether relaxed selection has provided a source of variability for adaptive radiations into ecosystems containing open niches and whether this variability underpins phenotypic evolution in cave animals. Linear and landmark-based measurements were used to quantify the morphology of subterranean species from different aquifers, compared to interstitial and closely related aquatic surface species. Subterranean dytiscids were observed to be morphologically distinct, suggesting they have a different lifestyle compared to their surface relatives. However, the variation in the measured traits was much greater in the subterranean species, and unstructured, showing no evidence of clustering that would indicate adaptation to specific niches. Furthermore, a previously identified pattern of repeated non-overlapping size variation in beetles across aquifers was not correlated with repeated body shape evolution. The observed variability across body shape and limb traits provides support for the hypothesis that relaxed selection and neutral evolution underlie the phenotypic evolution in these species. |
Description: | Advance access publication 19 October 2023. OnlinePubl |
Rights: | © 2023 The Linnean Society of London. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
DOI: | 10.1093/biolinnean/blad142 |
Grant ID: | http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP180103851 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP230100731 http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/FT190100803 |
Published version: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/biolinnean/blad142 |
Appears in Collections: | Ecology, Evolution and Landscape Science publications Environment Institute publications Zoology publications |
Files in This Item:
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hdl_139907.pdf | Published version | 3.1 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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