The evolution of multicellular complexity: the role of relatedness and environmental constraints
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The evolution of multicellular complexity : the role of relatedness and environmental constraints. / Fisher, R. M.; Shik, J. Z.; Boomsma, J. J.
In: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Vol. 287, No. 1931, 20192963, 2020.Research output: Contribution to journal › Journal article › Research › peer-review
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TY - JOUR
T1 - The evolution of multicellular complexity
T2 - the role of relatedness and environmental constraints
AU - Fisher, R. M.
AU - Shik, J. Z.
AU - Boomsma, J. J.
PY - 2020
Y1 - 2020
N2 - A major challenge in evolutionary biology has been to explain the variation in multicellularity across the many independently evolved multicellular lineages, from slime moulds to vertebrates. Social evolution theory has highlighted the key role of relatedness in determining multicellular complexity and obligateness; however, there is a need to extend this to a broader perspective incorporating the role of the environment. In this paper, we formally test Bonner's 1998 hypothesis that the environment is crucial in determining the course of multicellular evolution, with aggregative multicellularity evolving more frequently on land and clonal multicellularity more frequently in water. Using a combination of scaling theory and phylogenetic comparative analyses, we describe multicellular organizational complexity across 139 species spanning 14 independent transitions to multicellularity and investigate the role of the environment in determining multicellular group formation and in imposing constraints on multicellular evolution. Our results, showing that the physical environment has impacted the way in which multicellular groups form, highlight that environmental conditions might have affected the major evolutionary transition to obligate multicellularity.
AB - A major challenge in evolutionary biology has been to explain the variation in multicellularity across the many independently evolved multicellular lineages, from slime moulds to vertebrates. Social evolution theory has highlighted the key role of relatedness in determining multicellular complexity and obligateness; however, there is a need to extend this to a broader perspective incorporating the role of the environment. In this paper, we formally test Bonner's 1998 hypothesis that the environment is crucial in determining the course of multicellular evolution, with aggregative multicellularity evolving more frequently on land and clonal multicellularity more frequently in water. Using a combination of scaling theory and phylogenetic comparative analyses, we describe multicellular organizational complexity across 139 species spanning 14 independent transitions to multicellularity and investigate the role of the environment in determining multicellular group formation and in imposing constraints on multicellular evolution. Our results, showing that the physical environment has impacted the way in which multicellular groups form, highlight that environmental conditions might have affected the major evolutionary transition to obligate multicellularity.
KW - major evolutionary transitions
KW - multicellularity
KW - scaling
KW - body size
KW - cell types
KW - organizational complexity
KW - AGGREGATIVE CILIATE
KW - TRANSITIONS
KW - REGRESSION
KW - ORIGINS
KW - SIZE
U2 - 10.1098/rspb.2019.2963
DO - 10.1098/rspb.2019.2963
M3 - Journal article
C2 - 32693719
VL - 287
JO - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
JF - Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
SN - 0962-8452
IS - 1931
M1 - 20192963
ER -
ID: 247154952