How Conflict Shapes Evolution in Poeciliid Fishes

Authors

Andrew I. Furness, University of Hull
Bart J.A. Pollux, Wageningen University & Research
Robert Meredith, Montclair State UniversityFollow
Mark S. Springer, University of California at Riverside
David N. Reznick, University of California at Riverside

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2019

Journal / Book Title

Nature communications

Abstract

In live-bearing animal lineages, the evolution of the placenta is predicted to create an arena for genomic conflict during pregnancy, drive patterns of male sexual selection, and increase the rate of speciation. Here we test these predictions of the viviparity driven conflict hypothesis (VDCH) in live-bearing poecilid fishes, a group showing multiple independent origins of placentation and extreme variation in male sexually selected traits. As predicted, male sexually selected traits are only gained in lineages that lack placentas; while there is little or no influence of male traits on the evolution of placentas. Both results are consistent with the mode of female provisioning governing the evolution of male attributes. Moreover, it is the presence of male sexually selected traits (pre-copulatory), rather than placentation (post-copulatory), that are associated with higher rates of speciation. These results highlight a causal interaction between female reproductive mode, male sexual selection and the rate of speciation, suggesting a role for conflict in shaping diverse aspects of organismal biology.

Comments

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

DOI

10.1038/s41467-019-11307-5

Montclair State University Digital Commons Citation

Furness, Andrew I.; Pollux, Bart J.A.; Meredith, Robert; Springer, Mark S.; and Reznick, David N., "How Conflict Shapes Evolution in Poeciliid Fishes" (2019). Department of Biology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 167.
https://digitalcommons.montclair.edu/biology-facpubs/167

Published Citation

Furness, A. I., Pollux, B. J., Meredith, R. W., Springer, M. S., & Reznick, D. N. (2019). How conflict shapes evolution in poeciliid fishes. Nature communications, 10(1), 1-12.