Understanding the relationships between form and function can help us to understand the evolution of phenotypic diversity in different ecological contexts. Locomotor traits are ecologically relevant as they reflect the ability of an organism to escape from predators, to catch prey or to defend territories. As such, locomotion provides a good model to investigate how environmental constraints may influence an organism’s performance. Here, we investigate the ecomorphological relationships between limb morphology, locomotor performance (sprint speed and endurance) and habitat use in six southern African agamid species. The investigated agamid species showed differences in hind limb and toe lengths. Both of these traits were further correlated with endurance capacity. This association was supported by stepwise multiple regression analyses. However, we demonstrate trade-offs in locomotor performance traits, suggesting that specialization towards speed comes at the detriment of endurance capacity. Overall, the single arboreal species studied had longer hind limbs, a higher exertion capacity and a higher mean speed. However, for a given hind limb length, the arboreal species was slower than the other habitat specialists. This study provides insights into the evolutionary mechanisms that have driven the morphological and functional evolution in southern African agamid lizards.

中文翻译：

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南部非洲蜥蜴的形态，运动表现和栖息地利用

理解形式与功能之间的关系可以帮助我们理解不同生态环境中表型多样性的演变。运动特征与生态相关，因为它们反映了生物逃脱捕食者，捕获猎物或保卫领土的能力。因此，运动提供了一个很好的模型来研究环境约束如何影响有机体的性能。在这里，我们调查了非洲南部的六种蒲物种的肢体形态，运动能力（冲刺速度和耐力）与栖息地利用之间的生态形态关系。所研究的agamid种类在后肢和脚趾长度上显示出差异。这两个特征与耐力进一步相关。这种关联得到逐步多元回归分析的支持。然而，我们证明了运动性能特征之间的权衡，这表明对速度的专业化会损害耐力能力。总体而言，所研究的单个树栖物种后肢更长，运动能力更高，平均速度更高。但是，对于给定的后肢长度，树栖物种比其他栖息地专家慢。这项研究提供了对推动南部非洲蜥蜴蜥蜴形态和功能进化的进化机制的见解。树栖物种比其他栖息地专家慢。这项研究提供了对推动南部非洲蜥蜴蜥蜴形态和功能进化的进化机制的见解。树栖物种比其他栖息地专家慢。这项研究提供了对推动南部非洲蜥蜴蜥蜴形态和功能进化的进化机制的见解。