title: Continental cichlid radiations: functional diversity reveals the role of changing ecological opportunity in the Neotropics.
abstract: Adaptive radiations have been hypothesized to contribute broadly to the diversity of organisms. Models of adaptive radiation predict that ecological opportunity and ecological release, the availability of empty ecological niches and the response by adapting lineages to occupy them, respectively, drive patterns of phenotypic and lineage diversification. Adaptive radiations driven by 'ecological opportunity' are well established in island systems; it is less clear if ecological opportunity influences continent-wide diversification. We use Neotropical cichlid fishes to test if variation in rates of functional evolution is consistent with changing ecological opportunity. Across a functional morphological axis associated with ram-suction feeding traits, evolutionary rates declined through time as lineages diversified in South America. Evolutionary rates of ram-suction functional morphology also appear to have accelerated as cichlids colonized Central America and encountered renewed opportunity. Our results suggest that ecological opportunity may play an important role in shaping patterns of morphological diversity of even broadly distributed lineages like Neotropical cichlids.
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Wilcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2 Department of Biology, University of Washington, Kincaid Hall, Seattle, WA 206-221-7568, USA Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6 jarbour@uw.edu.
authors: Jessica Hilary
authors: 0000-0003-4506-158X
authors: JH
authors: Arbour
authors: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Wilcocks Street, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 3B2 Department of Natural History, Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queen's Park, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5S 2C6.
authors: Hernán
authors: H
authors: López-Fernández
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002489:Central America; D023681:Cichlids / Q000145:classification* / Q000502:physiology; D004463:Ecology; D005247:Feeding Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D010802:Phylogeny; D013020:South America
keywords: Cichlidae; adaptive radiation; freshwater fish; macroevolution; morphology; phylogenetics