Biology subjects

Porto, L. M. V.

Publications and source records attributed to Porto, L. M. V..

8 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

High Competition and Selective Extinction: How Biotic and Abiotic Drivers Shaped Speciation and Extinction Regimes in Carnivora

Understanding the drivers of biodiversity over time is a central goal in macroevolution. Yet, the relative contributions of biotic and abiotic mechanisms remain unclear, especially at broader phylogenetic and spatial scales. This study investigates how biotic (self-diversity dependence and competition proxies) and abiotic (temperature) factors shaped Carnivora diversification across North America and Eurasia over the last 45 million years. Using a Bayesian framework, curated fossil data, and an expanded method to assess competition intensity at multiple spatial scales, we quantify speciation, extinction, and diversity patterns across 17 families. Our results show that competition significantly influences diversification on both continents. Mechanisms vary by scale, with contrasting associations between diversification rates and predictive timeseries. While competition can hinder speciation by saturating ecological niches, it may also foster diversity via character displacement and niche partitioning, especially under local spatial coexistence. At regional scales, abiotic factors--particularly cooling temperatures and habitat shifts--act as selective extinction drivers, disproportionately affecting specific regions of the morphospace and creating gaps. By integrating temporal and spatial perspectives, our study enhances understanding of how biotic interactions and environmental changes jointly shape biodiversity through deep time.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Ecological and spatial overlap indicate interspecific competition during North American Canid radiation

Understanding biodiversity patterns and the processes that generate them are key goals in ecology and macroevolutionary studies. Diversity-dependent models of diversification have been used to indirectly infer the relevance of interspecific competition on driving speciation and extinction dynamics. In this study, we develop a new approach that more explicitly incorporated spatial and eco-morphological overlap among species to test how interspecific competition my affect diversification dynamics at deep time. We built different metrics that capture not only species temporal coexistence, but also their coexistence in space and morphospace to test the hypothesis that an increase in the intensity of competition would result in both a decrease in speciation rate and an increase in extinction rate. We tested our predictions using the North American fossil record of the family Canidae, a group that has been extensively studied and well characterized both from the eco-morphological and paleontological points of view. We found that interspecific competition only affected diversification dynamics during the early stages of Canidae radiation, resulting only in the suppression of speciation rate at the time the clade was expanding in diversity. We found no association between the intensity of the competition and extinction dynamics as expected by a competitive model, nor an association between changes in speciation and extinction rates and changes in global temperature, suggesting that extinction dynamics might be more related to external factors, such as clade-competition. We discuss the relevance of different factors on driving diversification dynamics changes over time and how evaluating the role of interspecific competition using different metrics that better capture the intensity of competition (as opposed to diversity dependent models), might be a way forward to investigate the role of biotic interactions at deep time.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

From Fossils to Living Canids: Two Contrasting Perspectives on Biogeographic Diversification

The Canidae are an ecologically important group of dog-like carnivores that arose in North America and spread across the planet around 10 million years ago. The current distribution patterns of species, coupled with their phylogenetic structure, suggest that Canidae diversification may have occurred at varying rates across different biogeographic areas. However, such extant-only analyses undervalued the groups rich fossil history because of a limitation in methods development. Current State-dependent Speciation and Extinction (SSE) models are (i) often parameter-rich which hinders reliable application to relatively small clades such as the Caninae (the only extant subclade of the Canidae consisting of 36 extant species); and (ii) often assume as possible states only the states that extant species present. Here we extend the SSE method SecSSE to apply to phylogenies with extinct species as well (111 Caninae species) and compare the results to those of analyses with the extant-species-only phylogeny. The results on the extant-species tree suggest that distinct diversification patterns are related to geographic areas, but the results on the complete tree do not support this conclusion. Furthermore, our extant-species analysis yielded an unrealistically low estimate of the extinction rate. These contrasting findings suggest that information from extinct species is different from information from extant species. A possible explanation for our results is that extinct species may have characteristics (causing their extinction), which may be different from the characteristics of extant species that caused them to be extant. Hence, we conclude that differences in biogeographic areas probably did not contribute much to the variation in diversification rates in Caninae.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

The Role of Phylogenetic Structure on Canidae Lineage Distribution and Trait Variation across the Globe

AimUnderstanding the spatial structuring of ecological communities requires us to consider the interplay between evolutionary history and environmental factors. In this study, we investigated the influence of Canidae phylogenetic structure on the distribution and trait patterns of lineages across the planet. LocationAmericas, Africa, Eurasia. Time period12 million years ago - present. Major taxa studiedCanidae. MethodsUsing distribution data and phylogenetic information for 37 Canidae species, we employed phylogenetic fuzzy-weighting to compare assemblages based on their phylogenetic similarity. ResultsOur results revealed distinct global patterns of body size, body mass, range size, habitat type, and evolutionary distinctiveness among lineages. We also identified the shared contributions of phylogenetic structure and temperature to trait variation using variance partitioning analysis. The PCPS axes highlighted the influence of phylogenetic relationships on Canidae assemblages, particularly in South America. Main conclusionsNotably, the study challenges the applicability of Bergmanns and Rapoports rules in explaining canids sizes and range sizes geographic variation across continents, emphasizing the importance of phylogenetic information. The unique diversification history of Canidae in South America and Africa and their diverse environmental conditions likely contribute to the observed trait patterns that make both continents so distinguished when compared to N. America and Eurasia. Our findings underscore the need to incorporate phylogenetic information in models assessing trait variation across geographic scales for unbiased estimations.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2023

Evolutionary dynamics and ecological influences on Felidae

In the field of evolutionary biology, researchers have long been interested in comprehending the patterns of diversification and elucidating the mechanisms responsible for the impressive variety of lifeforms observed within taxonomic groups. Based on the fossil records of Felidae, and using a Bayesian framework, we assess here how speciation and extinction rates vary across the last 25 Myr, and how it can potentially be associated with changes in two major ecomorphological traits of Felidae, body mass and carnassial teeth, over such time span. We found two coupled independent increases in both traits along Felidae evolution, one in Machairodontinae, which gradually increases over the last 15 Myr, and the second in Panthera, which rapidly increases within 5 million years. Furthermore, gradual reductions in body mass and carnassial teeth were also observed for some genera such as Leopardus, Lynx, and Felis. Diversification rates showed a gradual reduction throughout the Miocene and Pliocene, with significant rate shifts occurring around 9 and 2 Myr. We suggest that felids were influenced by major environmental changes over the last 17 Myr that probably shaped both traits studied here in order to hunt larger herbivores, but also to explore new niches that became available.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2021

The effect of climate change on the distribution of Canidae

Land use by humans and climate change have been seriously affecting the distribution of species resulting in a quarter of all known mammals currently threatened with extinction. Here, we modeled the present and future potential distributions of all 36 extant Canidae species to evaluate their response to future climate scenarios. In addition, we tested if canids were likely to experience evolutionary rescue, which could allow some species to adapt to climate change. Our results suggest that global warming will cause most species to lose or maintain their ranges, while a few will have the potential to benefit from future conditions and considerably expand their geographic distributions. Some canids have the potential to experience evolutionary rescue, but Atelocynus microtis and Chrysocyon brachyurus are two concerning cases that do not show this capacity to adapt given the current pace of climate change. We also reveal that most Canidae hotspot regions are outside protected areas, which may be useful for the identification of key areas for conservation.

ecology↗

bioRxiv2021

Competition and environmental gradients structure Canidae assemblages across the planet

The phylogenetic information of assemblages carries the signature of ecological and evolutionary processes that assembled these communities. Identifying the mechanisms that shape communities is not simple, as they can vary spatially. Here, we investigated how the phylogenetic structure of Canidae across the globe is affected by the environment and competition. We first identified phylogenetically clustered and overdispersed assemblages of canids over the planet taking into account regional pools of species in South and North America, Eurasia, and Africa. Then, we applied Structural Equation Models in these communities in order to identify the effect of temperature, vegetation cover, human impact, and body size dissimilarity on the spatial distribution of the phylogenetic information of canids. Only southern South America and the Middle East had strong phylogenetic clustered patterns, while the rest of the planet predominantly showed overdispersed assemblages. Body size dissimilarity and vegetation cover were the most important variables to explain the spatial patterns of phylogenetic structure in clustered and overdispersed communities, respectively. Canidae community composition across the world presents significant patterns of clustering and overdispersion, which vary following mainly the environmental gradient, suggesting habitat filtering as the main force acting on Canidae assemblages.

evolutionary biology↗

bioRxiv2021

Explosive diversification following continental colonizations by canids

Colonization of a new environment may trigger an explosive radiation process, defined as an accelerated accumulation of species in a short period of time. However, how often colonization events trigger explosive radiations is still an open question. We studied the worldwide dispersal of the subfamily Caninae, to investigate whether the invasion of new continents resulted in explosive radiations. We used a combination of phylogenetic analyses and ancestral area reconstructions to estimate ancestral ranges of 56 extant and extinct species of Caninae, as well as variation in speciation and extinction rates through time and across clades. Our findings indicate that canids experienced an explosive radiation event when lineages were able to cross the Bering Strait and the Isthmus of Panama to reach Eurasia and South America, respectively, around 11 million years ago. This large number of species arising in a short period of time suggests that canids experienced ecological opportunity events within the new areas, implying that the differences in the ecological settings between continents may be responsible for the variation in clade dynamics. We argue that interaction with other carnivores probably also affected the diversification dynamics of canids.

evolutionary biology↗