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(Reference retrieved automatically from Web of Science through information on FAPESP grant and its corresponding number as mentioned in the publication by the authors.)

Phylogenetic patterns and the adaptive evolution of osmoregulation in fiddler crabs (Brachyura, Uca)

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Author(s):
Faria, Samuel Coelho ; Provete, Diogo Borges ; Thurman, Carl Leo ; McNamara, John Campbell
Total Authors: 4
Document type: Journal article
Source: PLoS One; v. 12, n. 2 FEB 9 2017.
Web of Science Citations: 8
Abstract

Salinity is the primary driver of osmoregulatory evolution in decapods, and may have influenced their diversification into different osmotic niches. In semi-terrestrial crabs, hyperosmoregulatory ability favors sojourns into burrows and dilute media, and provides a safeguard against hemolymph dilution; hypo-osmoregulatory ability underlies emersion capability and a life more removed from water sources. However, most comparative studies have neglected the roles of the phylogenetic and environmental components of inter-specific physiological variation, hindering evaluation of phylogenetic patterns and the adaptive nature of osmoregulatory evolution. Semi-terrestrial fiddler crabs (Uca) inhabit fresh to hyper-saline waters, with species from the Americas occupying higher intertidal habitats than Indo-west Pacific species mainly found in the low intertidal zone. Here, we characterize numerous osmoregulatory traits in all ten fiddler crabs found along the Atlantic coast of Brazil, and we employ phylogenetic comparative methods using 24 species to test for: (i) similarities of osmoregulatory ability among closely related species; (ii) salinity as a driver of osmoregulatory evolution; (iii) correlation between salt uptake and secretion; and (iv) adaptive peaks in osmoregulatory ability in the high intertidal American lineages. Our findings reveal that osmoregulation in Uca exhibits strong phylogenetic patterns in salt uptake traits. Salinity does not correlate with hyper/hypo-regulatory abilities, but drives hemolymph osmolality at ambient salinities. Osmoregulatory traits have evolved towards three adaptive peaks, revealing a significant contribution of hyper/hypo-regulatory ability in the American clades. Thus, during the evolutionary history of fiddler crabs, salinity has driven some of the osmoregulatory transformations that underpin habitat diversification, although others are apparently constrained phylogenetically. (AU)

FAPESP's process: 16/13949-7 - Patterns and processes in the origin and diversification of terrestrial vertebrate diversity in the Brazilian Atlantic Forest
Grantee:Diogo Borges Provete
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
FAPESP's process: 11/08852-0 - The evolutionary history of thermal and metabolic homeostasis in a clade of neotropical, intertidal crabs (Decapoda, Eubrachyura)
Grantee:Samuel Coelho de Faria
Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate
FAPESP's process: 07/04870-9 - Adaptive physiological strategies in the Crustacea: the invasion of fresh water and the molecular and structural bases of osmoregulation
Grantee:John Campbell McNamara
Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
FAPESP's process: 09/50799-0 - Carl Leo Thurman II | University of Northern Iowa - United States
Grantee:John Campbell McNamara
Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Visiting Researcher Grant - International