Get 20M+ Full-Text Papers For Less Than $1.50/day. Start a 14-Day Trial for You or Your Team.

Learn More →

Colour, design and reward: phenotypic integration of fleshy fruit displays

Colour, design and reward: phenotypic integration of fleshy fruit displays The functional or structural linkage among traits (phenotypic integration (PI)) within complex structures can constrain the evolutionary response of individual traits. To analyse whether frugivores with distinct sensory ecology have shaped the patterns of fruit diversification differently, we compared PI values of fleshy fruits that are consumed by birds and mammals. We used phylogenetic comparative analyses of PI among 13 morphological, nutritional and visual fruit traits from 111 Mediterranean plant species. Results showed that morphological traits had higher PI values than nutritional and colour traits. Visual and nutritional traits show positive phylogenetic covariance, while negative covariation occurs between fruits size and nutrients. Importantly, fruits consumed by birds were relatively more integrated than fruits consumed partly or solely by mammals. Hence, we show that major groups of mutualistic frugivores can shape the covariance among some fruit traits differently and thereby influence fruit diversification. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Journal of Evolutionary Biology Wiley

Colour, design and reward: phenotypic integration of fleshy fruit displays

Loading next page...
 
/lp/wiley/colour-design-and-reward-phenotypic-integration-of-fleshy-fruit-NnUTdv4r2K

References (212)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© 2011 The Authors. Journal of Evolutionary Biology © 2011 European Society For Evolutionary Biology
ISSN
1010-061X
eISSN
1420-9101
DOI
10.1111/j.1420-9101.2010.02206.x
pmid
21255176
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

The functional or structural linkage among traits (phenotypic integration (PI)) within complex structures can constrain the evolutionary response of individual traits. To analyse whether frugivores with distinct sensory ecology have shaped the patterns of fruit diversification differently, we compared PI values of fleshy fruits that are consumed by birds and mammals. We used phylogenetic comparative analyses of PI among 13 morphological, nutritional and visual fruit traits from 111 Mediterranean plant species. Results showed that morphological traits had higher PI values than nutritional and colour traits. Visual and nutritional traits show positive phylogenetic covariance, while negative covariation occurs between fruits size and nutrients. Importantly, fruits consumed by birds were relatively more integrated than fruits consumed partly or solely by mammals. Hence, we show that major groups of mutualistic frugivores can shape the covariance among some fruit traits differently and thereby influence fruit diversification.

Journal

Journal of Evolutionary BiologyWiley

Published: Apr 1, 2011

There are no references for this article.