0000000000969994
AUTHOR
Elodie Renvoisé
Microevolutionary relationships between phylogeographical history, climate change and morphological variability in the common vole (Microtus arvalis) across France
Aim In this study, we analyse microevolutionary processes in common voles (Microtus arvalis) through the investigation of tooth morphological structure, in order to assess the relative impact of climate and phylogeographical history. Microevolutionary studies have shown that climate change may play a role in both population phylogeography and phenotypic differentiation. However, relatively little is known about the precise relationship between phylogeography and phenotypic variability and about how organisms respond to climate change. Location France, from sea level to the Alps (5 to > 2300 m a.s.l.). Methods This morphological analysis is based on first lower molar measurements from 16 geo…
Why all vole molars (Arvicolinae, Rodentia) are informative to be considered as proxy for Quaternary paleoenvironmental reconstructions.
13 pages; International audience; Rodents are considered as a good model and as a good proxy to characterise Quaternary environments. Molars and incisors are the best-preserved remains and are found in abundance in the fossil record. Since several decades, the lower molars are mostly used for specific determinations. Instead of using qualitative and descriptive characters, morphometric methods provide now a general quantitative description of shape. Applying these new morphometric methods (outline analysis), we demonstrate that lower as well as upper molars are useful and efficient for palaeontological analyses within voles (Arvicolinae). Herein it is made evident that except the first lowe…
Morphological modularity and assessment of developmental processes within the vole dental row (Microtus arvalis, Arvicolinae, Rodentia).
10 pages; International audience; Knowledge of mammalian tooth formation is increasing, through numerous genetic and developmental studies. The prevalence of teeth in fossil remains has led to an intensive description of evolutionary patterns within and among lineages based on tooth morphology. The extent to which developmental processes have influenced tooth morphologies and therefore the role of these processes in these evolutionary patterns are nonetheless challenging. Recent methodological advances have been proposed allowing the inference of developmental processes from adult morphologies and the characterization of the degree of developmental integration/modularity of morphological tr…
New insight into the colonization processes of common voles: inferences from molecular and fossil evidence.
Biologie et Gestion des Populations, Campus International de Baillarguet, Montferrier/Lez, FranceElucidating the colonization processes associated with Quaternary climatic cycles is important in order to understand the distribution of biodiversity and the evolutionary potential of temperate plant and animal species. In Europe, general evolutionary scenarios have been defined from genetic evidence. Recently, these scenarios have been challenged with genetic as well as fossil data. The origins of the modern distributions of most temperate plant and animal species could predate the Last Glacial Maximum. The glacial survival of such populations may have occurred in either southern (Mediterranea…
Mitochondrial DNA Gene Diversity and Morphological Variability of the Common Vole (Microtus arvalis) in France
International audience
Reappraisal of ‘chronospecies' and the use of Arvicola (Rodentia, Mammalia) for biochronology.
13 pages; International audience; The water vole, genus Arvicola, is characterised by a broad geographic distribution throughout Europe and is widespread during the late Middle and Upper Pleistocene. This genus is used as a major biostratigraphic tool within the Quaternary. Specific determinations using the Schmelzband-Differenzierung-Quotient or SDQ have identified many chronospecies within the fossil species Arvicola cantiana (Hinton, 1910). As SDQ calculation remains limited, this study reappraises the Arvicola genus in terms of morphodiversity and morphospace using outline analysis which takes into account the tooth as a whole. Outline analysis suggests that one single species of Arvico…
Evolution of mammal tooth patterns: new insights from a developmental prediction model.
14 pages.; International audience; The study of mammalian evolution is often based on insights into the evolution of teeth. Developmental studies may attempt to address the mechanisms that guide evolutionary changes. One example is the new developmental model proposed by Kavanagh et al. (2007), which provides a high-level testable model to predict mammalian tooth evolution. It is constructed on an inhibitory cascade model based on a dynamic balance of activators and inhibitors, regulating differences in molar size along the lower dental row. Nevertheless, molar sizes in some mammals differ from this inhibitory cascade model, in particular in voles. The aim of this study is to point out arvi…
Early Cambrian origin of modern food webs: evidence from predator arrow worms.
7 pages; International audience; Although palaeontological evidence from exceptional biota demonstrates the existence of diverse marine communities in the Early Cambrian (approx. 540-520 Myr ago), little is known concerning the functioning of the marine ecosystem, especially its trophic structure and the full range of ecological niches colonized by the fauna. The presence of a diverse zooplankton in Early Cambrian oceans is still an open issue. Here we provide compelling evidence that chaetognaths, an important element of modern zooplankton, were present in the Early Cambrian Chengjiang biota with morphologies almost identical to Recent forms. New information obtained from the lowermost Cam…
When less means more: evolutionary and developmental hypotheses in rodent molars.
10 pages; International audience; Tooth number in rodents is an example of reduction in evolution. All rodents have a toothless diastema lacking canine and most premolars present in most other mammals. Whereas some rodent lineages retained one premolar (p4), many others lost it during evolution. Recently, an 'inhibitory cascade' developmental model (IC) has been used to predict how the first molar (m1) influences the number and relative sizes of the following distal molars (m2 and m3). The model does not, however, consider the presence of premolars, and here we examine whether the premolar could influence and constrain molar proportions during development and evolution. By investigating a l…
Rodents and palaeogenetics: new perspectives.
10 pages; Rodents are the most diversified mammalian order (484 extant genera including 2277 species), and they have a worldwide distribution. Palaeontological, morphological and molecular data have greatly helped to resolve their systematics and evolutionary history. However, some discrepancies remain between palaeontologists and molecular biologists. New techniques in molecular biology, and especially in palaeogenetics, allow us to have direct access to the hereditary material of extinct organisms, and they can compensate for some morphological limits. Unfortunately, few studies are dealing with rodent palaeogenetics, despite the amount of museum and fossil material available. Here, we re…