Principal component analysis of avian hind limb and foot morphometrics (1 Viewer)

Amanda R. Falk, James C. Lamsdell and Enpu Gong, 2020

Principal component analysis of avian hind limb and foot morphometrics and the relationship between ecology and phylogeny

Paleobiology (advance online publication)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/pab.2020.39
https://www.cambridge.org/core/jour...nd-phylogeny/144C8D8E6E3ECD3A119A3AE7A5401FC2

Abstract:

Principal component analysis has been used to test for similarities in ecology and life habit between modern and fossil birds; however, the two main portions of the hind limb—the foot and the long bone elements—have not been examined separately. We examine the potential links between morphology, ecology, and phylogeny through a synthesis of phylogenetic paleoecological methods and morphospace analysis. Both hind limb morphologies and species’ ecologies exhibit extreme phylogenetic clumping, although these patterns are at least partially explainable by a Brownian motion style of evolution. Some morphologies are strongly correlated with particular ecologies, while some ecologies are occupied by a variety of morphologies. Within the morphospace analyses, the length of the hallux (toe I) is the most defining characteristic of the entire hind limb. The foot and hind limb are represented on different axes when all measurements are considered in an analysis, suggesting that these structures undergo morphological change separately from each other. Early birds tend to cluster together, representing an unspecialized basal foot morphotype and a hind limb reliant on hip-driven, not knee-driven, locomotion. Direct links between morphology, ecology, and phylogeny are unclear and complicated and may be biased due to sample size (~60 species). This study should be treated as a preliminary analysis that further studies, especially those examining the vast diversity of modern birds, can build upon.

Enjoy,

Fred

FIGURE 1. Composite phylogeny of sampled avian species, compiled from Jarvis et al. (2014), Garcia-R et al. (2014), Sun et al. (2017), Baker et al. (2007), Pereira and Baker (2008), Gibson and Baker (2012), Barth et al. (2013), Mackiewicz (2019), O’Connor et al. (2009), and Wang et al. (2014, 2017). Hind limb morphology is indicated via coloring on the branches, while species ecological assignment is shown via coloring on the tips alongside the species name.

Fred