TESTING THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MORPHOLOGICAL AND MOLECULAR RATES OF CHANGE ALONG PHYLOGENIES
Abstract
Molecular evolution has been considered to be essentially a stochastic process, little influenced by the pace of phenotypic change. This assumption was challenged by a study that demonstrated an association between rates of morphological and molecular change estimated for "total-evidence" phylogenies, a finding that led some researchers to challenge molecular date estimates of major evolutionary radiations. Here we show that Omland's (1997) result is probably due to methodological bias, particularly phylogenetic nonindependence, rather than being indicative of an underlying evolutionary phenomenon. We apply three new methods specifically designed to overcome phylogenetic bias to 13 published phylogenetic datasets for vertebrate taxa, each of which includes both morphological characters and DNA sequence data. We find no evidence of an association between rates of molecular and morphological rates of change.
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So far there has been little evidence to support the proposition that the overall rate of adaptation or morphological change of a species might influence the molecular clock.
“Although it is possible that the overall rate of adaptation or morphological change of a species might influence the molecular clock, so far there has been little evidence to support this proposition from either experimental studies 19 or comparative analyses 20,21 .”
From The modern molecular clock (2003) · cites this paper as [20]
Given the lack of a relationship between phenotypic evolution and molecular rates, it seems unlikely that the observed faster rate of molecular evolution in more rapidly diversifying lineages is a result of species adapting to new niches.
“Given the lack of a relationship between phenotypic evolution and molecular rates 19-21 , it seems unlikely that the observed faster rate of molecular evolution in more rapidly diversifying lineages is a result of species adapting to new niches.”
From The modern molecular clock (2003) · cites this paper as [20]
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BackgroundInfluentialCan fast early rates reconcile molecular dates with the Cambrian explosion?
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- Authors
- Bromham, L., Woolfit, M., Lee, M. S. Y., & Rambaut, A.
- Affiliations
- University of Sussex (GB)
- The University of Queensland (AU)
- University of Oxford (GB)
- Corresponding author
- Bromham, Lindell
- Woolfit, Megan
- Lee, Michael S. Y.
- Rambaut, Andrew
- Venue
- Evolution
- Publisher
- Oxford University Press (OUP)
- Published
- 2002-10
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 10
- Pages
- 1921-1930
- ISSN
- 0014-3820 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-5646
- OpenAlex
- W2027890339
- Semantic Scholar
- 46bce6601853106a38d1c7171e20e5db7bd53603
- Cited by
- 139
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2025: 5 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 2 · 2021: 6 · 2020: 3 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 5 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 2 · 2014: 4 · 2013: 7 · 2012: 11
- FWCI
- 6.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Evolution (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- BioOne Complete (BioOne) (submittedVersion)
- Adelaide Research & Scholarship (AR&S) (University of Adelaide) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Paleontology › Evolution and Paleontology Studies
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Physical Sciences › Mathematics › Geometry and Topology › Morphological variations and asymmetry
- Keywords
- morphological evolution, molecular evolution, rate of change, total-evidence phylogeny, methodological bias, vertebrate phylogeny, divergence time estimation, evolutionary radiation
- MeSH terms
- Animals, Biological Evolution, Phylogeny, Time Factors, Likelihood Functions, Sequence Analysis, DNA, Evolution, Molecular, Databases as Topic
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