Meeting Abstract

P3.33  Jan. 6  Inferring ancestral function in morphologically redundant complex traits BANBURY, B.L.*; ALFARO, M.E.; Washington State University; Washington State University bbanbury@wsu.edu

Ancestral state reconstruction methods are commonly used by biologists interested in inferring patterns of evolution in functional traits. However, functional traits typically possess two relevant levels of design: the emergent functional property itself and the underlying parts. In this study, we ask if ancestral state reconstruction of the underlying parts of complex functional traits leads to sound inference of function. We used squared change parsimony to reconstruct ancestral morphology in two complex traits associated with feeding in fishes: maxillary KT in labrids and suction index (SI) in centrarchids. We compared the values of KT and SI calculated from the reconstructed morphology to that inferred directly from the functional values themselves. SI values from both methods were in good agreement, but KT values were not. We attribute this to the high degree of nonlinearity in the KT system. Our results suggest that inference of ancestral function from inferred ancestral forms may be especially unreliable in complex traits. Funded in part by DEB-0445453 to M.E.A.