Ecological preference between generalist and specialist mice: spatial and environmental correlates of phenotypic variation

JUAN JOSE MARTÍNEZ; VIRGINIE MILLIEN; IVANA SIMONE; JOSÉ PRIOTTO

BIOLOGICAL JOURNAL OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY

WILEY-BLACKWELL PUBLISHING, INC

Lugar: Londres; Año: 2014 vol. 112 p. 180 - 203

0024-4066

Different ecological preferences among species may result in differences in response to similar environmental variation. To test this hypothesis, we assessed the patterns of skull and mandible size and shape variation in three Sigmodontinae mice from agroecosystems of central Argentina with increasing degree of specialization: Calomys musculinus, Akodon azarae and Oxymycterus rufus. Spatial patterns in size and shape were analyzed after controlling for allometry and sexual dimorphism using a total of 697 specimens. We then evaluated the covariation between shape, climatic and environmental variables and assessed the contribution of distinct climatic and environmental variables to phenotypic variability. O. rufus displayed a marked spatial structure, and there was a high correlation between shape, climatic and environmental variables in this species. Climatic and environmental variables had a moderate effect on the phenotype of A. azarae, and were not correlated with morphological variation in C. musculinus. Our study highlights the difference in phenotypic responses to spatial and environmental gradients across coexisting species, specialist species displaying a more marked spatial structure in morphology than generalist species.