The quantification of disparity is an important aspect of recent macroevolutionary studies, and it is usually motivated by theoretical considerations about the pace of innovation and the filling of morphospace. In practice, varying protocols of data collection and analysis have rendered comparisons among studies difficult. The basic question remains, How sensitive is any given disparity signal to different aspects of sampling and data analysis? Here we explore this issue in the context of the radiation of the echinoid order Spatangoida during the Cretaceous. We compare patterns at the genus and species levels, with time subdivision into subepochs and into stages, and with morphological sampling based on landmarks, traditional morphometrics, and discrete characters. In terms of temporal scale, similarity of disparity pattern accrues despite a change in temporal resolution, and a general deceleration in morphological diversification is apparent. Different morphometric methods also produce similar signals. Both the landmark analysis and the discrete character analysis suggest relatively high early disparity, whereas the analysis based on traditional morphometrics records a much lower value. This difference appears to reflect primarily the measurement of different aspects of overall morphology. Disparity patterns are similar at both the genus and species levels. Moreover, inclusion or exclusion of the sister order Holasteroida and the stem group Disasteroida in the sampled morphospace did not affect proportional changes in spatangoid disparity. Similar results were found for spatangoid subclades vis-à-vis spatangoids as a whole. The relative robustness of these patterns implies that the choice of temporal scale, morphometric scheme, and taxonomic level may not affect broad trends in disparity and the representation of large-scale morphospace structure.

Submitted by Marlene Santos (marlene.bc.ufg@gmail.com) on 2018-07-26T17:56:37Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Jesús Nazareno Pinto Ledezma - 2017.pdf: 8871426 bytes, checksum: 451cfc37da75487787cfc68ca57f9d82 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Luciana Ferreira (lucgeral@gmail.com) on 2018-07-27T15:03:35Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Jesús Nazareno Pinto Ledezma - 2017.pdf: 8871426 bytes, checksum: 451cfc37da75487787cfc68ca57f9d82 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-07-27T15:03:35Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Tese - Jesús Nazareno Pinto Ledezma - 2017.pdf: 8871426 bytes, checksum: 451cfc37da75487787cfc68ca57f9d82 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / One of the major challenges in biology is to understand the processes that originate and maintain of species diversity, and that in turn, determinate the observed patterns of biological diversity at different spatial and temporal scales. Here, we explore the historical processes that generate the species diversity and the assembly of local assemblages of Furnariides, the largest bird continental endemic radiation. In general, we used data of geographic distribution, local assemblages, life history (e.g., habitat preference) and molecular phylogenies. Furnariides diversified mainly during the Tertiary period, period in which South America was an island continent. Also, they are tightly related with the habitat that they occupy, where, the forest habitats represent the ancestral habitat for this clade. The Furnariides species richness pattern follows the same species richness pattern of birds in general, with a higher concentration of species at low latitudes and in forest habitats. Although the concentration of species is higher in these regions, the regions at higher latitudes and of open habitats, present rapid rates of speciation, extinction and colonization, suggesting that these habitats represent an effective arena for diversification in the Neotropics, and that are important for the maintenance of species diversity in forest habitats. Finally, the phylogenetic structure of assemblages of Furnariides, is influenced for the habitat preferences, and that the assembly of local assemblages is determined by the combined effect of historical colonisation and local extinction, as well as, the niche conservatism and environmental filtering. / Um dos principais desafios em biologia é entender os processos que dão origem e mantêm a diversidade de espécies, e que, por sua vez, determinam os padrões observados da diversidade biológica em diferentes escalas espaciais e temporais. Nesta tese, exploramos os processos históricos que geram a diversidade de espécies e a montagem de assembleias locais no infraorder dos Furnariides, a maior radiação continental endêmica de aves. De maneira geral se usaram dados de distribuição das espécies, de assembleias locais, historia de vida (e.g., preferência de habitat) e filogenias moleculares. Se demostra que os Furnariides principalmente diversificaram no período Terciário, período no qual América do Sul foi uma ilha continente. Além disso, estão estreitamente relacionadas com o habitat que elas ocupam, sendo que os habitats de floresta representam o habitat ancestral deste clado. O padrão de riqueza de espécies de Furnariides segue o mesmo padrão de riqueza de aves em geral, com uma maior concentração de espécies em latitudes menores e em habitats de floresta. Embora a concentração de espécies seja maior em estas regiões, as regiões de latitudes maiores e de habitats abertos, apresentaram taxas de especiação, extinção e dispersão mais rápidas, sugerindo que os habitats abertos representam areias efetivas de diversificação no Neotrópico e são importantes para o mantimento da diversidade de espécies em habitats de floresta. Finalmente, a estrutura filogenética das assembleias dos Furnariides e influenciada pela preferência de habitat, além disso, a montagem de assembleias locais depende do efeito combinado das taxas diferencias de colonização e extinção local, assim como a conservação de nicho e da filtragem ambiental.

The frozen plasticity theory is a punctuationalist theory of adaptive evolution. It states that long periods of stasis, during which populations respond to selection pressures only by elastic change in the frequency of already present alleles, alternate in the evolution of sexual species with short periods of plastic evolution, during which alleles can get fixed or eliminated by directed selection. Asexual species are not expected to maintain such high genetic polymorphism in the long term. They should, however, be able to plastically respond to selection pressures throughout their whole existence. This difference between the evolutionary dynamics of sexual and asexual clades has a number of ecological and macroevolutionary implications. Concerning ecology, we could expect different environmental preferences of sexual and asexual species. Accordingly, in our first work that was based on a comparative study, we statistically significantly supported the hypothesis that (ancient) asexual groups of (eukaryotes) inhabit more stable and homogeneous habitats than their related sexual controls. Focusing on actually experienced, i.e. subjective, heterogeneity of the environment turned out to be the crucial factor of this type of research. From the viewpoint of macroevolutionary implications of the frozen...

The aim of the present work was to investigate the impact of the varying environmental conditions on the taxonomic and phenotypic diversification of a geographically widespread and ecologically successful Old World primate genus, the macaques (Cercopithecidae: Macaca). To this end, the relationship between geography, ecology, phylogeny, and phenotypic variation among macaques was investigated. Constraints to phenotypic variation – and thus evolution – were also analysed in the form of observed amounts of phenotypic variation and patterns of phenotypic integration. A total of 72 standard linear measurements of teeth and associated cranial and mandibular structures were taken for a total sample of 744 specimens from 13 species of macaques. Climate and ecological data were collated from the literature. Univariate and multivariate statistics were employed for the analysis. Patterns of variation, covariation, and allometry were analysed in the dentition, both within and between species. The ecogeographical analysis was carried out by means of two-block partial least squares and a type of multivariate regression, both in a phylogenetic framework. Phylogenetic signal was tested for by means of Blomberg’s K. Macaque teeth differ in their variability. All teeth covary with each other, although correlations are strongest within tooth classes. Size was a strong contributing factor to dental integration, as evinced by lower correlations between teeth once allometric effects were removed. Integration patterns also showed modularity between the anterior and the posterior dentition. Between-species variation in overall craniodental size was associated with temperature, latitude, and body size. Species also varied, albeit to a lesser degree, along an antero-posterior contrast in relative tooth size. Larger anterior were found to be associated with frugivory and tropical ecology, whereas a larger posterior dentition was linked to a more folivorous diet and temperate environments. The latter pattern was largely a function of phylogenetic relatedness. Phylogenetic signal was generally strong in the dentition, although it was substantially greater in the anterior teeth (incisors and canines) than in the posterior teeth (premolars and molars). Macaques show adaptive differentiation in body size in response to temperature along a latitudinal cline, corroborating the presence of the Bergmann effect in macaques. There was no conclusive support for further adaptive differentiation, despite an association between relative tooth size and diet. Allometry appears to channel evolutionary divergence of macaques along a line of least evolutionary resistance, and developmental modularity allows for partly uncoupled evolution of the anterior and posterior dentition. Future research should be aimed at broadening the taxonomic scope to include craniodental variation of the African papionins and cercopithecins in order to put the observed macaque patterns in a broader evolutionary context.