Abstract
Ecomorphology is the association between an organism's morphology and its ecology. Larval anuran amphibians (tadpoles) are classified into distinct ecomorphological guilds based upon morphological features and observations of their ecology. The extent to which guilds comprise distinct morphologies resulting from convergent evolution, the degree of morphological variability within each guild, and the degree of continuity in shape between guilds has not previously been examined in a phylogenetically informed statistical framework. Here, we examine tadpole ecomorphological guilds at a macroevolutionary scale by examining morphological diversity across the Australian continent. We use ecological data to classify species to guilds, and geometric morphometrics to quantify body shape in the tadpoles of 188 species, 77% of Australian frog diversity. We find that the ecomorphological guilds represented by Australian species are morphologically distinct, but there is substantial morphological variation associated with each guild, and all guilds together form a morphological continuum. However, in a phylogenetic comparative context, there is no significant difference in body shape among guilds. We also relate the morphological diversity of the Australian assemblage of tadpoles to a global sample and demonstrate that ecomorphological diversity of Australian tadpoles is limited with respect to worldwide species. Our results demonstrate that general patterns of ecomorphological variation are upheld in Australian tadpoles, but tadpole body shape is more variable and possibly generalist than generally appreciated.
Highlights
The association between an organism’s morphology and its ecology, known as ecomorphology (Karr & James, 1975; Williams, 1972), is a pervasive concept in biology
Apparent in fish‐like body forms, the clear functional relationship between body shape and swimming performance is governed by hydrodynamic ef‐ fects which in turn are related to the aquatic environments in which the animals live (Webb, 1984, reviewed in Blake, 2004, Lauder, 2015)
We compare the observed diversity to that of non‐Australian species that exemplify the ecomorphological guilds proposed by Altig and Johnston (1989), and demonstrate that ecomorphological diversity of Australian tad‐ poles is limited with respect to worldwide species
Summary
The association between an organism’s morphology and its ecology, known as ecomorphology (Karr & James, 1975; Williams, 1972), is a pervasive concept in biology. Tadpoles are the free‐living aquatic larval stage of frogs and toads, with a distinctive bauplan, comprising a composite head and body, and a muscular tail (Altig & McDiarmid, 1999a). Tadpole external mor‐ phology, usually examined in the lateral view, is considered to confer ecomorphological guilds Since this framework was proposed, the extent to which guilds comprise distinct morpholo‐ gies resulting from convergent evolution, the degree of morpho‐ logical variability within each guild, and the degree of continuity in shape between guilds has not been examined in a phylogenetically informed statistical framework (but see Marques & Nomura, 2015). We compare the observed diversity to that of non‐Australian species that exemplify the ecomorphological guilds proposed by Altig and Johnston (1989), and demonstrate that ecomorphological diversity of Australian tad‐ poles is limited with respect to worldwide species This is the first study to comprehensively examine ecomorphology in larval anurans at the continental scale
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