Show simple item record

dc.contributor.authorLouys, Julien
dc.contributor.authorFaith, J Tyler
dc.date.accessioned2017-08-10T02:27:59Z
dc.date.available2017-08-10T02:27:59Z
dc.date.issued2015
dc.identifier.issn0947-5745
dc.identifier.doi10.1111/jzs.12080
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/10072/343714
dc.description.abstractUnderstanding the evolutionary history of the herbivore niche within African bovids has traditionally relied on examining anatomical adaptations to diet, particularly those related to digestive strategy. More recently, mesowear and stable isotope analyses have been used to great effect to reconstruct dietary preferences. We use these dietary proxies to construct a morphology-free dietary ecospace and examine the topology of the phylogenetic relationships of African bovids mapped onto this ecospace. The reconstructed dietary ecospace provides evidence for four distinct dietary classes: species with C3- or C4-dominated diets that produce low or high occlusal relief, likely related to diets high or low in abrasives, respectively. We detected no evidence for a discrete mixed feeder category; the species often categorized as such represent the end members of groups of species with either C3- or C4- dominated diets. Our analysis reveals high variability within the C4 grazing ecospace, and phylogenetic evidence indicates at least two pathways to grazing, likely related to the abrasive qualities of ingested food, which may be determined by the moisture content or the height of consumed grasses. These different pathways probably contribute to the high diversity of African grazers, both today and in the fossil record. C3 browsers (non-frugivores) also display a high degree of variation, but there are no species associated with highly abrasive diets and there is evidence for only a single evolutionary pathway. We find evidence for only one evolutionary route towards frugivory, which includes species with diets that produce both high and low occlusal reliefs. The cause of abrasive wear in frugivores may be related to grit and/or the hard parts of fruits, but this requires further examination.
dc.description.peerreviewedYes
dc.languageEnglish
dc.language.isoeng
dc.publisherBlackwell Verlag GmbH
dc.relation.ispartofpagefrom140
dc.relation.ispartofpageto154
dc.relation.ispartofissue2
dc.relation.ispartofjournalJournal of Zoological Systematics and Evolutionary Research
dc.relation.ispartofvolume53
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEvolutionary biology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchEvolutionary biology not elsewhere classified
dc.subject.fieldofresearchZoology
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3104
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode310499
dc.subject.fieldofresearchcode3109
dc.titlePhylogenetic topology mapped onto dietary ecospace reveals multiple pathways in the evolution of the herbivorous niche in African Bovidae
dc.typeJournal article
dc.type.descriptionC1 - Articles
dc.type.codeC - Journal Articles
gro.hasfulltextNo Full Text
gro.griffith.authorLouys, Julien


Files in this item

FilesSizeFormatView

There are no files associated with this item.

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

  • Journal articles
    Contains articles published by Griffith authors in scholarly journals.

Show simple item record