Postdoctoral Fellow
This research investigated the cause of parallel evolution in certain fishes inhabiting the rivers of tropical South America and Africa. In the 90 million years that have passed since separation of those continents, the fishes of each continent evolved one group with astounding morphological and ecological diversity, and another closely related group of detritus-eaters that are all very similar in morphology and ecology. Research on these fishes synthesized measurements of morphological diversity, evolutionary simulations, trees-of-life, and ecological information to compare and explain the parallel evolutionary histories of the two faunas. The main findings were that 1) on each continent a different innovation in the structure the lower jaw appears to have catalyzed the evolution of many further changes in skull structure and feeding ecologies and 2), detritus-eaters are not necessarily more constrained in their ability to evolve novelty than are fishes that eat other types of food, such as invertebrates. This research also developed phylomorphospace analysis, a new technique that combines trees-of-life and scatterplots of morphological diversity to test for differences in the underlying evolutionary process in different groups of related organisms. Other products included the construction of a tree-of-life for more than 200 species of fishes from the union of more than a dozen morphological datasets, the description of a new species of South American headstander, and collaborative papers applying the phylomorphospace approach to other groups of organisms, including triggerfishes and 300 million year old fossil tetrapods.
Understanding parallel morphological diversification in sister fish faunas
| PI(s): | Brian L. Sidlauskas |
| Start Date: | 1-Sep-2006 |
| End Date: | 31-May-2009 |
| Keywords: | phylogenetics, comparative methods, adaptive radiation, evolutionary novelty |
This research investigated the cause of parallel evolution in certain fishes inhabiting the rivers of tropical South America and Africa. In the 90 million years that have passed since separation of those continents, the fishes of each continent evolved one group with astounding morphological and ecological diversity, and another closely related group of detritus-eaters that are all very similar in morphology and ecology. Research on these fishes synthesized measurements of morphological diversity, evolutionary simulations, trees-of-life, and ecological information to compare and explain the parallel evolutionary histories of the two faunas. The main findings were that 1) on each continent a different innovation in the structure the lower jaw appears to have catalyzed the evolution of many further changes in skull structure and feeding ecologies and 2), detritus-eaters are not necessarily more constrained in their ability to evolve novelty than are fishes that eat other types of food, such as invertebrates. This research also developed phylomorphospace analysis, a new technique that combines trees-of-life and scatterplots of morphological diversity to test for differences in the underlying evolutionary process in different groups of related organisms. Other products included the construction of a tree-of-life for more than 200 species of fishes from the union of more than a dozen morphological datasets, the description of a new species of South American headstander, and collaborative papers applying the phylomorphospace approach to other groups of organisms, including triggerfishes and 300 million year old fossil tetrapods.
Related products
Publications- A morphological supermatrix-based phylogeny for the Neotropical fish superfamily Anostomoidea (Ostariophysi: Characiformes): phylogeny, missing data and homology. Dillman, C. B., B. L. Sidlauskas and R. P. Vari. in press. A morphological supermatrix-based phylogeny for the Neotropical fish superfamily Anostomoidea (Ostariophysi: Characiformes): phylogeny, missing data and homology. Cladistics.
- THE INFLUENCE OF AN INNOVATIVE LOCOMOTOR STRATEGY ON THE PHENOTYPIC DIVERSIFICATION OF TRIGGERFISH (FAMILY: BALISTIDAE) Alex Dornburg, Brian Sidlauskas, Francesco Santini, Laurie Sorenson, Thomas J. Near and Michael E. Alfaro (2011) THE INFLUENCE OF AN INNOVATIVE LOCOMOTOR STRATEGY ON THE PHENOTYPIC DIVERSIFICATION OF TRIGGERFISH (FAMILY: BALISTIDAE), Evolution, volume 65, issue 7, pp. 1912-1926
- Linking big: the continuing promise of evolutionary synthesis Sidlauskas, B., G. Ganapathy, E. Hazkani-Covo, K.P. Jenkins, H. Lapp, L.W. McCall, S. Price, R. Scherle, P.A. Spaeth, and D.M. Kidd (2010). Linking big: the continuing promise of evolutionary synthesis. Evolution 64(4): 871-880.
- Early bursts of body size and shape evolution are rare in comparative data. Harmon, L.J., J.B. Losos, J.T. Davies, et al. (2010). Early bursts of body size and shape evolution are rare in comparative data. Evolution 64(8): 2385�2396.
- Morphological And Mechanical Patterns Of Evolution In Triggerfish Fins Dornburg, A., B.L. Sidlauskas, L. Sorenson, et al. (2009). Morphological And Mechanical Patterns Of Evolution In Triggerfish Fins. Integrative And Comparative Biology 49.
- Linked morphological changes during palate evolution in early tetrapods Kimmel, C.B., B.L. Sidlauskas, and J. Clack (2009). Linked morphological changes during palate evolution in early tetrapods. Journal of Anatomy 215: 91-109.
- Phylogenetic relationships within the South American fish family Anostomidae (Teleostei, Ostariophysi, Characiformes) Sidlauskas, B.L. and R. Vari (2008). Phylogenetic relationships within the South American fish family Anostomidae (Teleostei, Ostariophysi, Characiformes). Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society 154: 70-210.
- Comparative methods in R hackathon O'Meara, B., M. Alfaro, C. Bell, et al. (2008). Comparative methods in R hackathon. Nature Precedings.
- Continuous and Arrested Morphological Diversification in Sister Clades of Characiform Fishes: A Phylomorphospace Approach Sidlauskas, B.L. (2008). Continuous and Arrested Morphological Diversification in Sister Clades of Characiform Fishes: A Phylomorphospace Approach. Evolution 62: 3135-3156.
- A new Schizodon (Characiformes: Anostomidae) from the Rio Orinoco system, with a redescription of S. isognathus from the Rio Paraguay system. Sidlauskas, Brian L., Julio Cesar Garavello and Jennifer Jellen. 2007. A new Schizodon (Characiformes: Anostomidae) from the Rio Orinoco system, with a redescription of S. isognathus from the Rio Paraguay system. Copeia 2007(3):711-725. (This work, save some revisions after review, was completed before arriving at NESCent.)
- Testing for unequal rates of morphological diversification in the absence of a detailed phylogeny: a case study from characiform fishes Sidlauskas, B.L. (2007). Testing for unequal rates of morphological diversification in the absence of a detailed phylogeny: a case study from characiform fishes. Evolution 61(2): 299-316.
- Ng, H. H. (2007). New Schizodon tetra named. Practical Fishkeeping. http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1374
