bentho-pelagic divergence of cichlid feeding architecture was prodigious and consistent during multiple adaptive radiations within african rift-lakesbentho-pelagic丽鱼科鱼喂养架构的散度是惊人的和一致的在非洲rift-lakes内多个自适应辐射.pdfVIP

Bentho-Pelagic Divergence of Cichlid Feeding Architecture Was Prodigious and Consistent during Multiple Adaptive Radiations within African Rift-Lakes 1 1 2 1 1 W. James Cooper *, Kevin Parsons , Alyssa McIntyre , Brittany Kern , Alana McGee-Moore , R. Craig Albertson1 1 Department of Biology, Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, United States of America, 2 School of Dental Medicine, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut, United States of America Abstract Background: How particular changes in functional morphology can repeatedly promote ecological diversification is an active area of evolutionary investigation. The African rift-lake cichlids offer a calibrated time series of the most dramatic adaptive radiations of vertebrate trophic morphology yet described, and the replicate nature of these events provides a unique opportunity to test whether common changes in functional morphology have repeatedly facilitated their ecological success. Methodology/Principal Findings: Specimens from 87 genera of cichlid fishes endemic to Lakes Tanganyka, Malawi and Victoria were dissected in order to examine the functional morphology of cichlid feeding. We quantified shape using geometric morphometrics and compared patterns of morphological diversity using a series of analytical tests. The primary axes of divergence were conserved among all three radiations, and the most prevalent changes involved the size of the preorbital region of the skull. Even the fishes from the youngest of these lakes (Victoria), which exhibit the lowest amount of skull shape disparity, have undergone extensive preorbital evolution relative to other craniofacial traits. Such changes have large effects on feeding biomechanics, a