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Feeding selectivity and a functional trade-off in a benthic fish with a continuous morphological variation: an experimental test.

Chiharu Endo
Published in: BMC zoology (2024)
This experimental result supports the presence of morphology-dependent feeding performance and a functional trade-off with potential impacts on trait variability, which may favor specializations rather than generalizations. In the wild, however, there may be some situations for relaxing the trade-off, such as temporally fluctuating prey availability that could also favor generalizations depending on the conditions, and thus, both extreme and intermediate phenotypes may persist/coexist in a single habitat. Although further examinations, especially focusing on feeding efficiency for each prey type separated from the effects of prey selectivity, are needed, this case represents an opportunity to consider the possible mechanisms of the persistence of phenotypic variation that is maintained without divergence even in a trade-off.
Keyphrases
  • climate change
  • genome wide
  • dna methylation
  • gene expression
  • risk assessment
  • human health
  • structural basis