Meeting Abstract

P1.101  Wednesday, Jan. 4  Examining the relationship between locomotor mode and rate of morphological evolution in frogs. JORGENSEN, Michael,E.; Ohio University mj207406@ohio.edu

Recent studies posit that habitat use affects the rate of morphological evolution in animals. Aspects of an animals’ morphology in part determine the way in which it interacts with its habitat. Anurans comprise a morphologically diverse group that has a global distribution and possess taxa that inhabit all but marine environments. Many of these frog groups seem to have undergone adaptive radiations at certain points in their evolution. Yet we know little about these radiations, the rates of morphological evolution in frogs, or if these evolutionary rates are correlated with some artifact of frog habitat use. One of the first steps to approaching this multi-faceted inquiry is to examine the relationship between locomotor behavior ([swim: aquatic; hop/jump: terrestrial; hop/walk/climb: scansorial; climb/jump: arboreal; burrow/walk/hop: fossorial]), and rate of morphological evolution in locomotor traits. Using a variety of packages implemented in the R statistical program I investigate the model and rate of evolution of each frog loco-morph trait within lineages across the frog phylogeny, then compare rate changes with locomotor modes to probe for a relationship between locomotor mode and rate of morphological evolution.