Comparative analysis of the interaction between habitat and growth form in diatoms

We characterized the evolutionary history of growth form (solitary–colonial) and its interaction with species'' habitat (planktonic–benthic) across a multi-gene phylogeny encompassing a broad sample of the order-level diversity of diatoms. We treated these characters broadly, modeling the evolution of aggregation of cells into a colony irrespective of the way aggregation is achieved, and relating the growth form to a broad concept of niche location: in the plankton or benthos. The results showed that habitat shifts are rare implying conservatism in niche location at the level of large clades. On the other hand, the evolutionary history of growth form is more dynamic with evolutionary rates that vary across the tree. Analyses of a possible interaction revealed that shifts in growth form are independent of habitat and that traversing between habitats does not hinge upon species'' growth form. Our findings help to fill a gap in the understanding of diatom niche and growth form macroevolution and contribute toward a platform for the comparative study of the mechanisms underlying diatom species and functional diversity.