@ARTICLE{TreeBASE2Ref2131, author = {Daniel S. Moen and John J. Wiens}, title = {Phylogenetic evidence for competitively-driven divergence: body-size evolution in Caribbean treefrogs (Hylidae: Osteopilus).}, year = {2008}, keywords = {}, doi = {}, url = {}, pmid = {}, journal = {Evolution}, volume = {}, number = {}, pages = {}, abstract = {Understanding the role of competition in evolutionary divergence is a challenging problem in evolutionary biology, given that the species that have diverged the most due to competition may no longer compete today. However, phylogenetic analyses that show the repeated evolution of similar body-size extremes across communities may offer evidence of competitively driven divergence in the past. For example, most regional assemblages of treefrogs around the world contain similar body-size extremes (i.e., both very large and very small species), which appear to have evolved convergently many times. To better understand this global pattern, we studied body-size diversification within the small, endemic radiation of Caribbean treefrogs (Osteopilus), by combining community assembly models, phylogenetic and morphometric analyses, and analyses of rates of body-size evolution. Community assembly models, which have traditionally been used to test for past competition, indicate that body-size distributions of Caribbean species show more very large species and fewer small- and medium-sized species than expected based on mainland South American treefrogs from which the Caribbean species are derived. Phylogenetic analysis shows that the similar extremes of body sizes among species on Jamaica and Hispaniola have originated through parallel evolution on each island, rather than through dispersal. Furthermore, the rate of body-size evolution in Osteopilus is much higher than in the South American treefrogs from which it is derived, indicating that the body size extremes evolved through deterministic rather than random processes. Taken together, these results suggest that competition may have rapidly driven the diversification of body sizes in the Caribbean treefrogs to the extremes seen in older, more species-rich communities in South America and around the world. Convergence in body-size extremes across communities may be indicative of past competition in many different organisms.} }

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