Across the Tree of Life, most studies of phenotypic disparity and diversification have been restricted to adult organisms. However, many lineages have distinct ontogenetic phases that differ from their adult forms in morphology and ecology. Focusing disproportionately on the evolution of adult forms unnecessarily hinders our understanding of the pressures shaping evolution over time. Non-adult disparity patterns are particularly important to consider for coastal ray-finned fishes, which often have juvenile phases with distinct phenotypes. These juvenile forms are often associated with sheltered nursery environments, with phenotypic shifts between adults and juvenile stages that are readily apparent in locomotor morphology. Whether this ontogenetic variation in locomotor morphology reflects a decoupling of diversification dynamics between life stages remains unknown. Here we investigate the evolutionary dynamics of locomotor morphology between adult and juvenile triggerfishes. We integrate a time-calibrated phylogenetic framework with geometric morphometric approaches and measurement data of fin aspect ratio and incidence, and reveal a mismatch between morphospace occupancy, the evolution of morphological disparity, and the tempo of trait evolution between life stages. Collectively, our results illuminate how the heterogeneity of morpho-functional adaptations can decouple the mode and tempo of morphological diversification between ontogenetic stages.

中文翻译：

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考虑宏观进化中个体发生阶段之间的解耦表型多样化：以炮弹鱼（Balistidae）为例


在生命之树中，大多数关于表型差异和多样化的研究都仅限于成年生物体。然而，许多谱系具有独特的个体发育阶段，其在形态和生态学上与其成体形式不同。过分关注成人形态的进化，不必要地阻碍了我们对随着时间的推移影响进化的压力的理解。对于沿海射线鳍鱼类来说，考虑非成体差异模式尤其重要，这些鱼类通常具有具有不同表型的幼体阶段。这些幼年形式通常与受庇护的保育环境有关，成年和幼年阶段之间的表型转变在运动形态上很明显。这种运动形态的个体发生变化是否反映了生命阶段之间多样化动态的脱钩仍然未知。在这里，我们研究成年和幼年炮弹鱼运动形态的进化动力学。我们将时间校准的系统发育框架与几何形态测量方法以及鳍长宽比和发生率的测量数据相结合，揭示了形态空间占用、形态差异的进化以及生命阶段之间性状进化速度之间的不匹配。总的来说，我们的结果阐明了形态功能适应的异质性如何解耦个体发育阶段之间形态多样化的模式和节奏。