A pharyngeal jaw evolutionary innovation facilitated extinction in Lake Victoria cichlids.

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A pharyngeal jaw evolutionary innovation facilitated extinction in Lake Victoria cichlids.

Science. 2015 Nov 27;350(6264):1077-9

Authors: McGee MD, Borstein SR, Neches RY, Buescher HH, Seehausen O, Wainwright PC

Abstract
Evolutionary innovations, traits that give species access to previously unoccupied niches, may promote speciation and adaptive radiation. Here, we show that such innovations can also result in competitive inferiority and extinction. We present evidence that the modified pharyngeal jaws of cichlid fishes and several marine fish lineages, a classic example of evolutionary innovation, are not universally beneficial. A large-scale analysis of dietary evolution across marine fish lineages reveals that the innovation compromises access to energy-rich predator niches. We show that this competitive inferiority shaped the adaptive radiation of cichlids in Lake Tanganyika and played a pivotal and previously unrecognized role in the mass extinction of cichlid fishes in Lake Victoria after Nile perch invasion.

PMID: 26612951 [PubMed – indexed for MEDLINE]

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Categories: Feature Articles, Health

Tags: evolutionary innovation