Terrestrial reproduction as an adaptation to steep terrain in African toads

H. Christoph Liedtke, Hendrik Müller, Julian Hafner, Johannes Penner, David J. Gower, Tomáš Mazuch, Mark-Oliver Rödel, Simon P. Loader
2017 Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Biological Sciences  
How evolutionary novelties evolve is a major question in evolutionary biology. It is widely accepted that changes in environmental conditions shift the position of selective optima, and advancements in phylogenetic comparative approaches allow the rigorous testing of such correlated transitions. A longstanding question in vertebrate biology has been the evolution of terrestrial life histories in amphibians and here, by investigating African bufonids, we test whether terrestrial modes of
more » ... tion have evolved as adaptations to particular abiotic habitat parameters. We reconstruct and date the most complete species-level molecular phylogeny and estimate ancestral states for reproductive modes. By correlating continuous habitat measurements from remote sensing data and locality records with life-history transitions, we discover that terrestrial modes of reproduction, including viviparity evolved multiple times in this group, most often directly from fully aquatic modes. Terrestrial modes of reproduction are strongly correlated with steep terrain and low availability of accumulated water sources. Evolutionary transitions to terrestrial modes of reproduction occurred synchronously with or after transitions in habitat, and we, therefore, interpret terrestrial breeding as an adaptation to these abiotic conditions, rather than an exaptation that facilitated the colonization of montane habitats. rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org Proc. R. Soc. B 284: 20162598
doi:10.1098/rspb.2016.2598 pmid:28356450 pmcid:PMC5378084 fatcat:p6vaboy5jretfhmne6pcjsl2ui