Evol Ecol Res 7: 837-851 (2005) Full PDF if your library subscribes.
Functional morphology meets macroecology: size and shape distributions of New World bats
Richard D. Stevens*
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93101 and Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA
Address all correspondence to R.D. Stevens, Department of Biological Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.
e-mail: rstevens@biology.lsu.eduABSTRACT
Questions: What is the distribution of sizes of bats when estimated from multivariate analyses conducted on a number of morphological characteristics? Can shapes generated from such analyses inform our understanding of macroecology, in particular how phenotypic characteristics in general vary in nature? Do species-rich functional groups of bats exhibit similar size and shape distributions?
Quantitative methods: Principal components analysis imposed on seven morphometric characteristics. Kolmogorov-Smirnov and bootstrap analyses to determine differences among phenotypic distributions.
Organisms: New World bats.
Conclusions: All distributions were modal, skewed and deviated significantly from the log-normal. Significant differences regarding central tendency of functional groups existed on all phenotypic axes. Functional groups exhibited similar size distributions based on skew and kurtosis, but significantly differed on the log-mass and shape axes. Although similarities in the unimodal and skewed nature of phenotypic distributions suggest universal properties governing the diversification of organisms through space and time, quantitative differences among distributions highlight unique aspects of the evolution of particular phenotypic attributes.
Keywords: body-size distribution, functional morphology, morphometrics, principal components analysis, shape distribution, size–shape decomposition.
DOWNLOAD A FREE, FULL PDF COPY
IF you are connected using the IP of a subscribing institution (library, laboratory, etc.)
or through its VPN.
© 2005 Richard D. Stevens. All EER articles are copyrighted by their authors. All authors endorse, permit and license Evolutionary Ecology Ltd. to grant its subscribing institutions/libraries the copying privileges specified below without additional consideration or payment to them or to Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. These endorsements, in writing, are on file in the office of Evolutionary Ecology, Ltd. Consult authors for permission to use any portion of their work in derivative works, compilations or to distribute their work in any commercial manner.
Subscribing institutions/libraries may grant individuals the privilege of making a single copy of an EER article for non-commercial educational or non-commercial research purposes. Subscribing institutions/libraries may also use articles for non-commercial educational purposes by making any number of copies for course packs or course reserve collections. Subscribing institutions/libraries may also loan single copies of articles to non-commercial libraries for educational purposes.
All copies of abstracts and articles must preserve their copyright notice without modification.