The evolutionary convergence of avian lifestyles and their constrained coevolution with species' ecological niche |
| |
Authors: | Paola Laiolo Javier Seoane Juan Carlos Illera Giulia Bastianelli Luis María Carrascal José Ramón Obeso |
| |
Affiliation: | 1.Research Unit of Biodiversity (UO, CSIC, PA), Universidad de Oviedo, 33600 Mieres, Spain;2.Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology, Universitá di Torino, 10123 Torino, Italy;3.Terrestrial Ecology Group, Departamento de Ecología, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid, 28049 Madrid, Spain;4.Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (MNCN-CSIC), 28000 Madrid, Spain |
| |
Abstract: | The fit between life histories and ecological niche is a paradigm of phenotypic evolution, also widely used to explain patterns of species co-occurrence. By analysing the lifestyles of a sympatric avian assemblage, we show that species'' solutions to environmental problems are not unbound. We identify a life-history continuum structured on the cost of reproduction along a temperature gradient, as well as habitat-driven parental behaviour. However, environmental fit and trait convergence are limited by niche filling and by within-species variability of niche traits, which is greater than variability of life histories. Phylogeny, allometry and trade-offs are other important constraints: lifetime reproductive investment is tightly bound to body size, and the optimal allocation to reproduction for a given size is not established by niche characteristics but by trade-offs with survival. Life histories thus keep pace with habitat and climate, but under the limitations imposed by metabolism, trade-offs among traits and species'' realized niche. |
| |
Keywords: | life-history trade-offs phylogenetic comparative method realized niche reproductive allocation |
|
|