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Data from: Composition of a chemical signalling trait varies with phylogeny and precipitation across an Australian lizard radiation

Cite this dataset

Zozaya, Stephen et al. (2022). Data from: Composition of a chemical signalling trait varies with phylogeny and precipitation across an Australian lizard radiation [Dataset]. Dryad. https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.4j0zpc8dx

Abstract

The environment presents challenges to the transmission and detection of animal signalling systems, resulting in selective pressures that can drive signal divergence among populations in disparate environments. For chemical signals, climate is a potentially important selective force because factors such as temperature and moisture influence the persistence and detection of chemicals. We investigated an Australian lizard radiation (Heteronotia) to explore relationships between a sexually dimorphic chemical signalling trait (epidermal pore secretions) and two key climate variables: temperature and precipitation. We reconstructed the phylogeny of Heteronotia with exon capture phylogenomics, estimated phylogenetic signal in among-lineage chemical variation, and assessed how chemical composition relates to temperature and precipitation using multivariate phylogenetic regressions. High estimates of phylogenetic signal indicate that the composition of epidermal pore secretions varies among lineages in a manner consistent with Brownian motion; although there are deviations to this, with stark divergences coinciding with two phylogenetic splits. Accounting for phylogenetic non-independence, we found that among-lineage chemical variation is associated with geographic variation in precipitation but not temperature. This contrasts somewhat with previous lizard studies, which have generally found an association between temperature and chemical composition. Our results suggest that geographic variation in precipitation can affect the evolution of chemical signalling traits, possibly influencing patterns of divergence among lineages and species.

 

Funding

American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists

Australian Geographic Society

Australian Research Council

James Cook University

Society of Australian Systematic Biologists

Society of Systematic Biologists