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The role of behaviour in adaptive morphological evolution of African proboscideans

Nature volume 500, pages 331–334 (2013)Cite this article

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Abstract

The fossil record richly illustrates the origin of morphological adaptation through time. However, our understanding of the selective forces responsible in a given case, and the role of behaviour in the process, is hindered by assumptions of synchrony between environmental change, behavioural innovation and morphological response. Here I show, from independent proxy data through a 20-million-year sequence of fossil proboscideans in East Africa, that changes in environment, diet and morphology are often significantly offset chronologically, allowing dissection of the roles of behaviour and different selective drivers. These findings point the way to hypothesis-driven testing of the interplay between habitat change, behaviour and morphological adaptation with the use of independent proxies in the fossil record1.

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Figure 1: Phylogeny of proboscidean genera included in this study.
Figure 2: Environmental, behavioural and morphological trends for East African proboscideans over the past 20 Myr.
Figure 3: Incremental evolution of hypsodonty index in the African Plio-Pleistocene Palaeoloxodon recki/iolensis lineage.
Figure 4: Hypsodonty evolution in African Pliocene to Recent Loxodonta.

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  • 14 August 2013

    A minor typo in the Fig. 4 legend was corrected.

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Acknowledgements

I thank T. E. Cerling, W. J. Sanders and C. M. Janis for discussion; K. Uno, Y. Kunimatsu and H. Nakaya for assistance with specimen identification; and P. Hadland, R. Portela-Miguez and W. Wendelin for access to collections.

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    Adrian M. Lister

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Lister, A. The role of behaviour in adaptive morphological evolution of African proboscideans. Nature 500, 331–334 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12275

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