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DO IMAGE-FORMING EYES PROMOTE EVOLUTIONARY DIVERSIFICATION?

Alan de Queiroz1

  • 1Department of Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology and University Museum, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, 80309-0334.

Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution
|June 1, 2017
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

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Image-forming eyes do not significantly increase species richness in most animal groups. While associated with increased activity, the evolution of complex vision does not consistently drive greater diversification.

Area of Science:

  • Evolutionary Biology
  • Comparative Phylogenetics
  • Paleontology

Background:

  • The presence of image-forming eyes is hypothesized to promote evolutionary diversification and species richness.
  • Potential mechanisms include adaptation to new niches and enhanced competitive abilities leading to reduced extinction rates.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To test the hypothesis that image-forming eyes increase net speciation across diverse animal groups.
  • To investigate the relationship between vision, activity levels, and diversification.

Main Methods:

  • Comparative analysis of extant species numbers between 12 groups with image-forming eyes and their sister groups lacking such organs.
  • Examination of phylogenetic relationships and published data on locomotory speed.
  • Analysis of the fossil record for early visual groups and their diversification patterns.
Keywords:
Adaptive radiationadaptive zonecontingencydiversificationeyeskey innovationsister-group tests

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Main Results:

  • No significant association was found between image-forming eyes and species richness, even when considering favorable phylogenetic hypotheses.
  • Increased locomotory speed (activity) was significantly associated with the evolution of image-forming eyes.
  • Limiting analysis to cases with increased activity still revealed no significant link between vision and species richness.

Conclusions:

  • The hypothesis that image-forming eyes directly drive species richness is not supported by this comparative study.
  • Early evolution of vision in metazoans may have saturated ecological niches, limiting subsequent radiations of visual groups.
  • Other factors likely obscure or outweigh the long-term diversification effects of image-forming eyes.