Young species of cupuladriid bryozoans occupied new Caribbean habitats faster than old species

Abstract The breadth of habitat occupied by a species, and the rate at which a species can expand into new habitats has important ecological and evolutionary consequences. Here we explore when extant species of free-living cupuladriid bryozoans expanded into new benthic Caribbean habitats that emerg...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Aaron O’Dea, Brigida De Gracia, Blanca Figuerola, Santosh Jagadeeshan
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2018
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/3e39229ba85f419dada75af5f0a56eb7
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract The breadth of habitat occupied by a species, and the rate at which a species can expand into new habitats has important ecological and evolutionary consequences. Here we explore when extant species of free-living cupuladriid bryozoans expanded into new benthic Caribbean habitats that emerged during the final stages of formation of the Isthmus of Panama. Habitat breadth was estimated using the abundances of over 90,000 colonies in ten cupuladriid species, along with the ecological and sedimentary characteristics of the samples in which they occurred. Data reveal that all species expanded their habitat breadths during the last 6 Myr, but did so at a different tempo. ‘Young’ species - those that originated after 5 Ma - expanded relatively quickly, whereas ‘old’ species - those that originated before 9 Ma - took a further 2 Myr to achieve a comparable level of expansion. We propose that, like invasive species, young species are less restrained when expanding their habitat breadths compared to older well-established species. Understanding the mechanism causing this restraint requires further research.