TY - JOUR
T1 - Evolution of rapid development in spadefoot toads is unrelated to arid environments
AU - Zeng, Cen
AU - Gomez-Mestre, Ivan
AU - Wiens, John J.
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the Elite Researcher Training Program of the Ministry of Education of China for funds allowing C. Zeng to visit J.J.W. and work on this project. We thank D. Buckley and an anonymous referee for helpful feedback on the manuscript.
PY - 2014/5/6
Y1 - 2014/5/6
N2 - The extent to which species' life histories evolve to match climatic conditions is a critical question in evolutionary biology and ecology and as human activities rapidly modify global climate. GIS-based climatic data offer new opportunities to rigorously test this question. Superficially, the spadefoot toads of North America (Scaphiopodidae) seem to offer a classic example of adaptive life-history evolution: some species occur in extremely dry deserts and have evolved the shortest aquatic larval periods known among anurans. However, the relationships between the climatic conditions where spadefoots occur and the relevant life-history traits have not been explicitly tested. Here, we analyzed these relationships using GIS-based climatic data, published life-history data, and a time-calibrated phylogeny for pelobatoid frogs. Surprisingly, we find no significant relationships between life-history variables and precipitation or aridity levels where these species occur. Instead, rapid development in pelobatoids is strongly related to their small genome sizes and to phylogeny.
AB - The extent to which species' life histories evolve to match climatic conditions is a critical question in evolutionary biology and ecology and as human activities rapidly modify global climate. GIS-based climatic data offer new opportunities to rigorously test this question. Superficially, the spadefoot toads of North America (Scaphiopodidae) seem to offer a classic example of adaptive life-history evolution: some species occur in extremely dry deserts and have evolved the shortest aquatic larval periods known among anurans. However, the relationships between the climatic conditions where spadefoots occur and the relevant life-history traits have not been explicitly tested. Here, we analyzed these relationships using GIS-based climatic data, published life-history data, and a time-calibrated phylogeny for pelobatoid frogs. Surprisingly, we find no significant relationships between life-history variables and precipitation or aridity levels where these species occur. Instead, rapid development in pelobatoids is strongly related to their small genome sizes and to phylogeny.
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U2 - 10.1371/journal.pone.0096637
DO - 10.1371/journal.pone.0096637
M3 - Article
C2 - 24800832
AN - SCOPUS:84900533945
SN - 1932-6203
VL - 9
JO - PloS one
JF - PloS one
IS - 5
M1 - e96637
ER -