Data from: Selection and constraints in the ecomorphological adaptive evolution of the skull of living Canidae (Carnivora, Mammalia)
Description
The association between phenotype and ecology is essential for understanding the environmental drivers of morphological evolution. This is a particularly challenging task when dealing with complex traits such as the skull, where multiple selective pressures are at play and evolution might be constrained by ontogenetic and genetic factors. In the present contribution I integrate morphometric tools, comparative methods and quantitative genetics to investigate how ontogenetic constraints and selection might have interacted during the evolution of the skull in extant Canidae. The results confirm that the evolution of cranial morphology was largely adaptive and molded by changes in diet composition. While the investigation of the adaptive landscape reveals two main Selective Lines of Least Resistance (one associated with size and one associated with functional shape features), rates of evolution along size were higher than those found for shape dimensions, suggesting the influence of constraints on morphological evolution. Structural Modeling Analyses revealed that size, which is the line of most genetic/phenotypic variation, might have acted as a constraint, negatively impacting dietary evolution. Constraints might have been overcome in the case of selection for the consumption of large prey, by associating strong selection along both size and shape directions. The results obtained here show that microevolutionary constraints may have played a role in shaping macroevolutionary patterns of morphological evolution.
Notes
Table of species dietary data
Dietary data based on semantic analysis of the literature. Contains 13 dietary categories for 40 canid species.
File- diet.csv
Table of Genebank accession numbers for analyzed genes
Table containing the accession number for the genes used in the dating of the phylogenetic tree. Contains genetic information for 38 canid species plus 4 outgroups.
File- genes.xls
Canidae phylogeny
Dated phylogeny used in all comparative analysis.
File- dated_canidae.tree
Average measures for each species
Mean values for each log-measurement for each species. Contain 40 measurements for 39 species.
File- means.xls
Phenotypic covariance matrix for morphometric traits
40x40 covariance P matrix for the within-group pattern of co/variation.
File- W.xlsx
Morphological vectors associated to ecological change
Diet-specific morphological changes (Δzdiet) and selection gradients (βdiet)
File- ecoV.xlsx
Factors controlled
Table containing formulas used in the linear models used to control for sources of within-species patterns of variation before calculating patterns of within-group covariance.
File- factors_.csv
Funding provided by: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001807
Award Number: 2011/21674-4
Funding provided by: Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/501100001807
Award Number: 2013/22042-7
Funding provided by: National Science Foundation
Crossref Funder Registry ID: http://dx.doi.org/10.13039/100000001
Award Number: DEB 1350474
Files
diet.csv
Files
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Additional details
Related works
- Is supplemented by
- 10.5061/dryad.dv41ns1th (DOI)
- 10.5061/dryad.142jn5t (DOI)