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Morphological stasis in an ongoing gastropod radiation from Lake Malawi.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary processes leading to adaptive radiation regularly occur too fast to be accurately recorded in the fossil record but too slowly to be readily observed in living biota. The study of evolutionary radiations is thereby confronted with an epistemological gap between the timescales and approaches used by neontologists and paleontologists. Here we report on an ongoing radiation of extant Bellamya species (n = 4) from the African Rift Lake Malawi that provides an unusual opportunity to bridge this gap. The substantial molecular differentiation in this monophyletic Bellamya clade has arisen since Late Pleistocene megadroughts in the Malawi Basin caused by climate change. Morphological time-series analysis of a high-resolution, radiocarbon-dated sequence of 22 faunas spanning the Holocene documents stasis up to the middle Holocene in all traits studied (shell height, number of whorls, and two variables obtained from geometric morphometrics). Between deposition of the last fossil fauna (~5 ka) and the present day, a drastic increase in morphological disparity was observed (3.7-5.8 times) associated with an increase in species diversity. Comparison of the rates of morphological evolution obtained from the paleontological time-series with phylogenetic rates indicates that the divergence in two traits could be reconstructed with the slow rates documented in the fossils, that one trait required a rate reduction (stabilizing selection), and the other faster rates (divergent selection). The combined paleontological and comparative approach taken here allows recognition that morphological stasis can be the dominant evolutionary pattern within species lineages, even in very young and radiating clades.

SUBMITTER: Van Bocxlaer B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3752226 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Morphological stasis in an ongoing gastropod radiation from Lake Malawi.

Van Bocxlaer Bert B Hunt Gene G

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 20130807 34

Evolutionary processes leading to adaptive radiation regularly occur too fast to be accurately recorded in the fossil record but too slowly to be readily observed in living biota. The study of evolutionary radiations is thereby confronted with an epistemological gap between the timescales and approaches used by neontologists and paleontologists. Here we report on an ongoing radiation of extant Bellamya species (n = 4) from the African Rift Lake Malawi that provides an unusual opportunity to brid ...[more]

PMID: 23924610

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Project description:BACKGROUND:Ecological speciation is a prominent mechanism of diversification but in many evolutionary radiations, particularly in invertebrates, it remains unclear whether supposedly critical ecological traits drove or facilitated diversification. As a result, we lack accurate knowledge on the drivers of diversification for most evolutionary radiations along the tree of life. Freshwater mollusks present an enigmatic example: Putatively adaptive radiations are being described in various families, typically from long-lived lakes, whereas other taxa represent celebrated model systems in the study of ecophenotypic plasticity. Here we examine determinants of shell-shape variation in three nominal species of an ongoing ampullariid radiation in the Malawi Basin (Lanistes nyassanus, L. solidus and Lanistes sp. (ovum-like)) with a common garden experiment and semi-landmark morphometrics. RESULTS:We found significant differences in survival and fecundity among these species in contrasting habitats. Morphological differences observed in the wild persisted in our experiments for L. nyassanus versus L. solidus and L. sp. (ovum-like), but differences between L. solidus and L. sp. (ovum-like) disappeared and re-emerged in the F1 and F2 generations, respectively. These results indicate that plasticity occurred, but that it is not solely responsible for the observed differences. Our experiments provide the first unambiguous evidence for genetic divergence in shell morphology in an ongoing freshwater gastropod radiation in association with marked fitness differences among species under controlled habitat conditions. CONCLUSIONS:Our results indicate that differences in shell morphology among Lanistes species occupying different habitats have an adaptive value. These results also facilitate an accurate reinterpretation of morphological variation in fossil Lanistes radiations, and thus macroevolutionary dynamics. Finally, our work testifies that the shells of freshwater gastropods may retain signatures of adaptation at low taxonomic levels, beyond representing an evolutionary novelty responsible for much of the diversity and disparity in mollusks altogether.

Dataset Information

Morphological stasis in an ongoing gastropod radiation from Lake Malawi.

Publications

Morphological stasis in an ongoing gastropod radiation from Lake Malawi.

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