A century of morphological variation in Cyprinidae fishes

BMC Ecology

Research Article

Stephen J. Jacquemin¹  Mark Pyron² 

[1] Department of Biological Sciences, Dwyer Hall, Wright State University-Lake Campus, 45822, Celina, OH, USA;Department of Biology, Aquatic Biology and Fisheries Center, Ball State University, 47306, Muncie, IN, USA;

关键词: Geometric morphometrics;    North American fish morphology;    Long term morphology;    Global change;    Long term hydrological variation;    Habitat alteration;    Contemporary evolution;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12898-016-0104-x

 received in 2016-08-13, accepted in 2016-10-13,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundAquatic habitats have been altered over the past century due to a variety of anthropogenic influences. Ecomorphology is an area of aquatic ecology that can both directly and indirectly assess the effects of habitat alterations on organisms. However, few studies have explored long term trends in morphological variation. Long term changes in morphology can potentially impact niche and ultimately contribute to organismal success and the ecosystem. Therefore, in this study we assessed long term morphological variation with body size, sex, time, and hydrology using museum collections of five species of Cyprinidae (Minnows) from lentic and lotic systems over the past 100 years to gain insight into long term patterns in morphology.ResultsVariation in Cyprinidae morphology tended to relate to: body size—indicating strong allometric growth patterns with robustness of larger individuals; sex—indicating a level of fecundity selection for deeper bodies in females compared with males; and year—indirectly suggesting responses to habitat changes over the past century. In lotic ecosystems, Cyprinidae morphology tended to be more fusiform in conjunction with lower mean annual discharge or higher variation in discharge. In lentic ecosystems, change in morphology was observed but no historic habitat variables were available to discern potential mechanisms. Interestingly, not all species responded in the same magnitude or directionality.ConclusionsLong term changes in morphological variation provide a link to exploring functional relationships between taxa and their environment and have implications for understanding ecosystem attributes, community assembly patterns, and conservation.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2016