Data from: Rapid morphological change of non-native frugivores on the Hawaiian island of O’ahu
Data files
Apr 17, 2020 version files
359.53 KB
Abstract
Novel ecosystems have become widespread created, in part, by the global spread of species. The non-native species in these environments can be under intense evolutionary pressures that cause rapid morphological change, which can then influence species interactions. In Hawai’i, much of the native frugivore community is extinct, replaced by non-native bird species. Here, we determined if the passerine species of the non-native frugivore community on O’ahu have morphologically diverged from their native ranges. We compared a variety of traits, all important for frugivory, between museum specimens from the species’ native ranges to wild individuals from O’ahu. All four species tested exhibited significant divergence ranging in magnitude from 2.3% to 13.0% difference in at least two traits. Using a method developed from quantitative genetics, we found evidence that a mixture of non-adaptive and adaptive processes worked in concert to create the observed patterns of divergence. Our results suggest rapid morphological change is occurring and, based on the traits measured, that these changes may influence seed dispersal effectiveness. Since these species are largely responsible for seed dispersal on the island, the rapid morphological change of these species can influence the stability and maintenance of plant communities on O’ahu.
DATA - Gleditsch and Sperry 2019
The morphological data used in Gleditsch and Sperry 2019 for analyses of morphological divergence between Oahu and the native range of four non-native frugivore species. All individuals with the "Wild" designation in the 'source' column had a correction factor applied to their measurements (see Gleditsch and Sperry 2019 for correction factors and explanation). The 'ID' column is a unique identifier for each individual. The 'year' column is the year in which the individual was collected or caught. The 'date' column is the date on which the individual was collected or caught. The 'location' is the country or island the individual was collected from or caught on. The 'source' column is whether or not the individual was a specimen from a museum or was caught in the wild. The 'range' column designates whether the individual was from the native range or the introduced range. The 'species' column is the 4-letter alpha code of the species the individual was identified as (see Gleditsch and Sperry 2019 for the alpha codes). The 'Age' column designates the age of the individual (J=juvenile, A=adult, U=unknown). The 'sex' column designates what sex the individual was determined to be (M=male, F=female, U=unknown). The other seven columns are the morphological measurements taken on each individual and correspond to the tail length, tarsus length, wing length, total culmen, nares to the tip of the culmen, bill width, and bill depth, respectively (see Gleditsch and Sperry 2019 for a description of measurements). All measurement are in millimeters. Not present in the data file are the recaptures used in the error estimation. Contact the authors for these data.
