Ecomorphological and phylogenetic controls on sympatry across extant bats

AimMacroecological patterns of sympatry can inform our understanding of how ecological and evolutionary processes govern species distributions. Following speciation, both intrinsic and extrinsic factors may determine how readily sympatry occurs. One possibility is that sympatry most readily occurs with ecological divergence, especially if broad‐scale co‐occurrence is mediated by niche differentiation. Time since divergence may also predict sympatry if hybridization and gene flow lead to the collapse of species boundaries between closely related taxa. Here, we test for ecological and phylogenetic predictors of sympatry across the global radiation of extant bats.LocationGlobal.TaxonBats (Order Chiroptera).MethodsWe used a combination of linear mixed‐modelling, simulations and maximum‐likelihood modelling to test whether phylogenetic and ecomorphological divergence between species predict sympatry. We further assess how these relationships vary based on biogeographic realm.ResultsWe find that time since divergence does not predict sympatry in any biogeographic realm. Morphological divergence is negatively related to sympatry in the Neotropics, but shows no relationship with sympatry elsewhere.Main conclusionsWe find that bats in most biogeographic realms co‐occur at broad spatial scales regardless of phylogenetic similarity. Neotropical bats, however, appear to co‐occur most readily when morphologically similar. To the extent that pairwise phylogenetic and morphological divergence reflect ecological differentiation, our results suggest that abiotic and environmental factors may be more important than species interactions in determining patterns of sympatry across bats.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144581/1/jbi13353-sup-0005-FigureS5.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144581/2/jbi13353.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144581/3/jbi13353-sup-0006-FigureS6.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144581/4/jbi13353-sup-0003-FigureS3.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144581/5/jbi13353-sup-0004-FigureS4.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144581/6/jbi13353_am.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144581/7/jbi13353-sup-0002-FigureS2.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/144581/8/jbi13353-sup-0001-FigureS1.pd

A collection and analysis of amphibians and reptiles from Nicaragua with new country and departmental records

Nicaragua is a biodiverse country, but documented herpetological specimens are underrepresented compared to neighboring countries. In 2018 we conducted a collaborative expedition between the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology and Nicaraguan biologists. We visited sites in the Pacific Low‑ lands, Caribbean Lowlands, and the Central Highlands, representing the three major biogeographic regions of Nicaragua. We collected specimens of 100 species from a total of 106 encountered. We provide acces‑ sion numbers and morphological, genetic, and ecological information for these specimens. We recorded 23 new departmental records and the first country record of Metlapilcoatlus indomitus (Smith & Ferrari‑Castro, 2008), filling gaps in the known distribution of the species within Nicaragua and across Central America. When available for each species, we provide range maps and comparative genetic trees including conspecific reference sequences from the region, making this work a significant addition to existing checklists of the herpetofauna in Nicaragua

Landmark data for convergence tests

Landmark data for bat crania used to test for convergence among major trophic guilds

Female dewlap ornaments are evolutionarily labile and associated with increased diversification rates in Anolis lizards.

The evolution of costly signalling traits has largely focused on male ornaments. However, our understanding of ornament evolution is necessarily incomplete without investigating the causes and consequences of variation in female ornamentation. Here, we study the Anolis lizard dewlap, a trait extensively studied as a male secondary sexual characteristic but present in females of several species. We characterized female dewlaps for 339 species to test hypotheses about their evolution. Our results did not support the hypothesis that female dewlaps are selected against throughout the anole phylogeny. Rather, we found that female dewlaps were evolutionary labile. We also did not find support for the adaptive hypothesis that interspecific competition drove the evolution of female dewlaps. However, we did find support for the pleiotropy hypothesis as species with larger females and reduced sexual size dimorphism were more likely to possess female dewlaps. Lastly, we found that female dewlap presence influenced diversification rates in anoles, but only secondarily to a hidden state. Our results demonstrate that female ornamentation is widespread in anoles and the traditional hypothesis of divergent selection between the sexes does not fully explain their evolution. Instead, female ornamentation is likely to be subject to complex adaptive and non-adaptive evolutionary forces

Data from: Digitizing extant bat diversity: an open-access repository of 3D μCT-scanned skulls for research and education

Biological specimens are primary records of organismal ecology and history. As such, museum collections are invaluable repositories for testing ecological and evolutionary hypotheses across the tree of life. Digitizing and broadly sharing the phenotypic data from these collections serves to expand the traditional reach of museums, enabling widespread data sharing, collaboration, and education at an unprecedented scale. In recent years, μCT-scanning has been adopted as one way for efficiently digitizing museum specimens. Here, we describe a large repository of 3D, μCT-scanned images and surfaces of skulls from 359 extant species of bats, a highly diverse clade of modern vertebrates. This digital repository spans much of the taxonomic, biogeographic, and morphological diversity present across bats. All data have been published to the MorphoSource platform, an online database explicitly designed for the archiving of 3D morphological data. We demonstrate one potential use of this repository by testing for convergence in skull shape among one particularly diverse group of bats, the superfamily Noctilionoidea. Beyond its intrinsic utility to bat biologists, our digital specimens represent a resource for educators and for any researchers seeking to broadly test theories of trait evolution, functional ecology, and community assembly

A test for rate‐coupling of trophic and cranial evolutionary dynamics in New World bats

Morphological evolution is often assumed to be causally related to underlying patterns of ecological trait evolution. However, few studies have directly tested whether evolutionary dynamics of—and major shifts in—ecological resource use are coupled with morphological shifts that may facilitate trophic innovation. Using diet and multivariate cranial (microCT) data, we tested whether rates of trophic and cranial evolution are coupled in the radiation of New World bats. We developed a generalizable information‐theoretic method for describing evolutionary rate heterogeneity across large candidate sets of multirate evolutionary models, without relying on a single best‐fitting model. We found considerable variation in trophic evolutionary dynamics, in sharp contrast to a largely homogeneous cranial evolutionary process. This dichotomy is surprising given established functional associations between overall skull morphology and trophic ecology. We suggest that assigning discrete trophic states may underestimate trophic generalism and opportunism, and that this radiation could be characterized by labile crania and a homogeneous dynamic of generally high morphological rates. Overall, we discuss how trophic classifications could substantively impact our interpretation of how these dynamics covary in adaptive radiations.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167529/1/evo14188.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167529/2/evo14188_am.pdfhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/167529/3/evo14188-sup-0001-FigureS8.pd