Cargando…

The evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean

Predator specialization has often been considered an evolutionary “dead end” due to the constraints associated with the evolution of morphological and functional optimizations throughout the organism. However, in some predators, these changes are localized in separate structures dedicated to prey ca...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Damian-Serrano, Alejandro, Haddock, Steven H. D., Dunn, Casey W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: National Academy of Sciences 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7923536/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33593896
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2005063118
_version_ 1783658922569105408
author Damian-Serrano, Alejandro
Haddock, Steven H. D.
Dunn, Casey W.
author_facet Damian-Serrano, Alejandro
Haddock, Steven H. D.
Dunn, Casey W.
author_sort Damian-Serrano, Alejandro
collection PubMed
description Predator specialization has often been considered an evolutionary “dead end” due to the constraints associated with the evolution of morphological and functional optimizations throughout the organism. However, in some predators, these changes are localized in separate structures dedicated to prey capture. One of the most extreme cases of this modularity can be observed in siphonophores, a clade of pelagic colonial cnidarians that use tentilla (tentacle side branches armed with nematocysts) exclusively for prey capture. Here we study how siphonophore specialists and generalists evolve, and what morphological changes are associated with these transitions. To answer these questions, we: a) Measured 29 morphological characters of tentacles from 45 siphonophore species, b) mapped these data to a phylogenetic tree, and c) analyzed the evolutionary associations between morphological characters and prey-type data from the literature. Instead of a dead end, we found that siphonophore specialists can evolve into generalists, and that specialists on one prey type have directly evolved into specialists on other prey types. Our results show that siphonophore tentillum morphology has strong evolutionary associations with prey type, and suggest that shifts between prey types are linked to shifts in the morphology, mode of evolution, and evolutionary correlations of tentilla and their nematocysts. The evolutionary history of siphonophore specialization helps build a broader perspective on predatory niche diversification via morphological innovation and evolution. These findings contribute to understanding how specialization and morphological evolution have shaped present-day food webs.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7923536
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher National Academy of Sciences
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-79235362021-03-10 The evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean Damian-Serrano, Alejandro Haddock, Steven H. D. Dunn, Casey W. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A Biological Sciences Predator specialization has often been considered an evolutionary “dead end” due to the constraints associated with the evolution of morphological and functional optimizations throughout the organism. However, in some predators, these changes are localized in separate structures dedicated to prey capture. One of the most extreme cases of this modularity can be observed in siphonophores, a clade of pelagic colonial cnidarians that use tentilla (tentacle side branches armed with nematocysts) exclusively for prey capture. Here we study how siphonophore specialists and generalists evolve, and what morphological changes are associated with these transitions. To answer these questions, we: a) Measured 29 morphological characters of tentacles from 45 siphonophore species, b) mapped these data to a phylogenetic tree, and c) analyzed the evolutionary associations between morphological characters and prey-type data from the literature. Instead of a dead end, we found that siphonophore specialists can evolve into generalists, and that specialists on one prey type have directly evolved into specialists on other prey types. Our results show that siphonophore tentillum morphology has strong evolutionary associations with prey type, and suggest that shifts between prey types are linked to shifts in the morphology, mode of evolution, and evolutionary correlations of tentilla and their nematocysts. The evolutionary history of siphonophore specialization helps build a broader perspective on predatory niche diversification via morphological innovation and evolution. These findings contribute to understanding how specialization and morphological evolution have shaped present-day food webs. National Academy of Sciences 2021-02-23 2021-02-15 /pmc/articles/PMC7923536/ /pubmed/33593896 http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2005063118 Text en Copyright © 2021 the Author(s). Published by PNAS. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/This open access article is distributed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License 4.0 (CC BY-NC-ND) (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Biological Sciences
Damian-Serrano, Alejandro
Haddock, Steven H. D.
Dunn, Casey W.
The evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean
title The evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean
title_full The evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean
title_fullStr The evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean
title_full_unstemmed The evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean
title_short The evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean
title_sort evolution of siphonophore tentilla for specialized prey capture in the open ocean
topic Biological Sciences
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7923536/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33593896
http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2005063118
work_keys_str_mv AT damianserranoalejandro theevolutionofsiphonophoretentillaforspecializedpreycaptureintheopenocean
AT haddockstevenhd theevolutionofsiphonophoretentillaforspecializedpreycaptureintheopenocean
AT dunncaseyw theevolutionofsiphonophoretentillaforspecializedpreycaptureintheopenocean
AT damianserranoalejandro evolutionofsiphonophoretentillaforspecializedpreycaptureintheopenocean
AT haddockstevenhd evolutionofsiphonophoretentillaforspecializedpreycaptureintheopenocean
AT dunncaseyw evolutionofsiphonophoretentillaforspecializedpreycaptureintheopenocean