Santos-Santos Javier H, Audenaert Leen, Verheyen Erik, Adriaens Dominique
Evolutionary Morphology of Vertebrates, Department of Biology, Ghent University, K.L. Ledeganckstraat 35, B-9000, Gent, Belgium.
Integrative Biogeography and Global Change Department, Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (MNCN-CSIC), 28006, Madrid, Spain.
J Morphol. 2015 Jul;276(7):860-71. doi: 10.1002/jmor.20385. Epub 2015 Mar 28.
Fish develop morphological specializations in their trophic and locomotor systems as a result of varying functional demands in response to environmental pressures at different life stages. These specializations should maximize particular performances in specialists, adapting them to their trophic and habitat niches at each ontogenetic stage. Because differential growth rates of the structural components comprised in the head are likely to be linked to the diet of a fish throughout its development, we investigated the ontogenetic development of two haplochromine cichlid species belonging to different trophic guilds. We employed geometric morphometric techniques to evaluate whether starting from morphologically similar fry they diverge into phenotypes that characterize trophic guilds and locomotor types. Our examination of overall body shape shows that certain specialized morphological features are already present in fry, whereas other traits diverge through ontogeny due to differences in species-specific allometric variation. Allometric shape variation was found to be more relevant for the biter specialist than for the sucker morphotype. Our results confirm that phenotypic changes during ontogeny can be linked to dietary and habitat shifts in these fish. Furthermore, evidence for an integrated development of trophic and locomotor specializations in morphology was observed.
由于在不同生命阶段对环境压力的功能需求不同，鱼类在其营养和运动系统中形成了形态特化。这些特化应使特化鱼类的特定性能最大化，使它们在每个个体发育阶段适应其营养和栖息地生态位。由于头部结构组成部分的不同生长速率可能与鱼类整个发育过程中的饮食有关，我们研究了两种属于不同营养类群的单倍体丽鱼科鱼类的个体发育。我们采用几何形态测量技术来评估，从形态相似的鱼苗开始，它们是否会分化为表征营养类群和运动类型的表型。我们对整体体型的研究表明，某些特化的形态特征在鱼苗中就已经存在，而其他特征则由于物种特异性异速生长变异的差异在个体发育过程中出现分化。发现异速生长形状变异对比特专家型鱼类比对吸盘形态类型更相关。我们的结果证实，个体发育过程中的表型变化可能与这些鱼类的饮食和栖息地变化有关。此外，还观察到营养和运动特化在形态学上综合发展的证据。
