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Allometric constraints and the evolution of allometry
Kjetil L Voje1, Thomas F Hansen, Camilla K Egset
1Department of Biosciences, Centre for Ecological and Evolutionary Synthesis, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway. k.l.voje@ibv.uio.no.
Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|November 14, 2013
Summary
Allometric relationships, or how traits change with size, may constrain evolution. While some evolutionary changes in allometry occur over long timescales, static allometry often predicts evolutionary patterns at the subspecies level, suggesting constraints on trait evolution.
Area of Science:
- Evolutionary biology
- Morphometrics
- Quantitative genetics
Background:
- Morphological traits frequently exhibit covariation described by allometric power laws.
- Allometry is hypothesized to arise from common growth regulation, potentially limiting evolutionary change in allometric exponents.
Purpose of the Study:
- To formalize hypotheses on how allometry constrains morphological trait evolution across taxa.
- To empirically test the evolvability of allometric relationships using cross-species data.
Main Methods:
- Analysis of over 300 empirical estimates of static (within-species) allometric relationships in animal morphology.
- Comparison of static allometric parameters with evolutionary changes in allometry across different taxonomic levels.
Main Results:
- Evidence for evolutionary changes in allometric parameters was found on million-year, cross-species timescales.
- Limited evidence for microevolutionary changes in allometric slopes was observed.
- Static allometries frequently predicted evolutionary allometries at the subspecies level, but less consistently across species.
Conclusions:
- The hypothesis that static allometric slopes strongly constrain trait evolution remains viable.
- Further research is needed to understand the evolution of narrow-sense allometry (power relationships).
- Static allometry's predictive power for evolutionary allometry varies with taxonomic level.
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