Evolution & Systematics

Examining Mesoamerican cichlid communities from a phylogenetic perspective

Allison A. Pease, Hernán López-Fernández, Kirk O. Winemiller

Increasingly, community ecologists are using information available on phylogenetic relatedness of co-occurring species to make inferences about the processes structuring communities.  If competition for resources is an important factor structuring communities, the ecological similarity of co-occurring species is expected to be limited.   In this scenario, closely related species are less likely to co-occur and communities will be phylogenetically over-dispersed.  Alternatively, if habitat filtering processes have a stronger influence on community structure, closely related species that share traits suited to local habitat conditions are more likely to occur together.    We plan to test for these patterns in Mesoamerican cichlid communities using the neotropical cichlid phylogeny of López-Fernández and colleagues.  Much of the research on community phylogenetics is based on the assumption that closely related species are ecologically similar.  Because this is not the case in all systems, we will use the results of our other work on resource use and ecomorphology to test this assumption for Mesoamerican cichlids.  In addition to providing more insight into cichlid community assembly, the incorporation of a phylogenetic perspective into our ecological studies will allow us to test for patterns associated with niche conservatism, convergence, and ecological adaptive radiation.  This research is funded by the National Science Foundation.

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Updated September 29, 2008