Scheda di dettaglio – i prodotti della ricerca
| Dato | Valore |
|---|---|
| Title | Environmental filtering and convergent evolution determine the ecological specialization of subterranean spiders |
| Abstract | Ecological specialization is an important mechanism enhancing species coexistence within a given community. Yet, unravelling the effect of multiple selective evolutionary and ecological factors leading the process of specialization remains a key challenge in ecology. Subterranean habitats provide highly replicated experimental arenas in which to disentangle the relative contribution of evolutionary history (convergent evolution vs. character displacement) and ecological setting (environmental filtering vs. competitive exclusion) in driving community assembly. We tested alternative hypotheses about the emergence of ecological specialization using the radiation of a lineage of sheet-weaver cave-dwelling spiders as model system. We observed that at the local scale, a differential specialization to cave microhabitats generally parallels moderate levels of morphological similarity and close phylogenetic relatedness among species. Conversely, geographic distance contributed little in explaining microhabitat occupation, possibly mirroring a limited role of competitive exclusion. Yet, compared to non-coexisting species, co-occurring species adapted to different microhabitats showed lower morphological niche overlap (i.e. higher dissimilarity) and deeper genetic distance. The framework here developed suggests that in the subterranean domain, habitat specialization is primarily driven by environmental filtering, secondarily by convergent evolution, and only marginally by character displacement or competitive exclusion. This pattern results in the establishment of replicated communities across geographical space, composed by ecologically equivalent species. Such process of community assembly well explains the numerous adaptive radiations observed in subterranean habitats, an eco-evolutionary pattern well documented in oceanic islands or mountain summit communities. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. |
| Source | Functional ecology (Print) |
| Keywords | biotic interactionscavefunctional traitsn-dimensional hypervolumeniche spacephenotypic variabilitysubterranean biologyWestern Italian Alps |
| Journal | Functional ecology (Print) |
| Editor | British Ecological Society :, Oxford, Regno Unito |
| Year | 2020 |
| Type | Articolo in rivista |
| DOI | 10.1111/1365-2435.13527 |
| Authors | Mammola, Stefano; Arnedo, Miguel A.; Fiser, Cene; Cardoso, Pedro; Dejanaz, Andrea J.; Isaia, Marco |
| Text | 417108 2020 10.1111/1365 2435.13527 ISI Web of Science WOS 000510254500001 biotic interactions cave functional traits n dimensional hypervolume niche space phenotypic variability subterranean biology Western Italian Alps Environmental filtering and convergent evolution determine the ecological specialization of subterranean spiders Mammola, Stefano; Arnedo, Miguel A.; Fiser, Cene; Cardoso, Pedro; Dejanaz, Andrea J.; Isaia, Marco CNR; Univ Helsinki; Univ Turin; Univ Barcelona; Univ Barcelona; Univ Ljubljana Ecological specialization is an important mechanism enhancing species coexistence within a given community. Yet, unravelling the effect of multiple selective evolutionary and ecological factors leading the process of specialization remains a key challenge in ecology. Subterranean habitats provide highly replicated experimental arenas in which to disentangle the relative contribution of evolutionary history convergent evolution vs. character displacement and ecological setting environmental filtering vs. competitive exclusion in driving community assembly. We tested alternative hypotheses about the emergence of ecological specialization using the radiation of a lineage of sheet weaver cave dwelling spiders as model system. We observed that at the local scale, a differential specialization to cave microhabitats generally parallels moderate levels of morphological similarity and close phylogenetic relatedness among species. Conversely, geographic distance contributed little in explaining microhabitat occupation, possibly mirroring a limited role of competitive exclusion. Yet, compared to non coexisting species, co occurring species adapted to different microhabitats showed lower morphological niche overlap i.e. higher dissimilarity and deeper genetic distance. The framework here developed suggests that in the subterranean domain, habitat specialization is primarily driven by environmental filtering, secondarily by convergent evolution, and only marginally by character displacement or competitive exclusion. This pattern results in the establishment of replicated communities across geographical space, composed by ecologically equivalent species. Such process of community assembly well explains the numerous adaptive radiations observed in subterranean habitats, an eco evolutionary pattern well documented in oceanic islands or mountain summit communities. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article. Published version Articolo in rivista British Ecological Society 0269 8463 Functional ecology Print Functional ecology Print Funct. ecol. Print Functional ecology. Print stefano.mammola MAMMOLA STEFANO |