Reconstructions of evolutionary and historical biogeographic processes can improve our understanding of how species ssemblages developed and permit inference of ecological drivers affecting coexistence. We explore this approach in Austrolebias, a genus of annual fishes possessing a wide range of body sizes. Regional assemblages composed of different species with similar size distributions are found in four areas of eastern South America. Using phylogenetic trees, species distribution models and size data we show how trait evolution and historical biogeography have affected the composition of species assemblages. We extend age-range correlations to improve estimates of local historical biogeography. We find that size variation principally arose in a single area and infer that ecological interactions drove size divergence. This large-size lineage spread to two other areas. One of these assemblages was likely shaped by adaptation to a new environment, but this was not associated with additional size divergence. We found only weak evidence that environmental filtering has been important in the construction of the remaining assemblage with the smallest range of sizes. The repeated assemblage structures were the result of different evolutionary and historical processes. Our approach sheds light on how species assemblages were built when typical clustering approaches may fall short.

中文翻译：

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一年生鳉鱼的性状演化与历史生物地理学形态组合

进化和历史生物地理过程的重建可以提高我们对物种组合如何发展的理解，并允许推断影响共存的生态驱动因素。我们在 Austrolebias 中探索了这种方法，Austrolebias 是一种具有各种体型的一年生鱼类。在南美洲东部的四个地区发现了由大小分布相似的不同物种组成的区域组合。使用系统发育树、物种分布模型和大小数据，我们展示了性状进化和历史生物地理学如何影响物种组合的组成。我们扩展了年龄范围的相关性，以改进对当地历史生物地理学的估计。我们发现尺寸变化主要发生在单个区域，并推断生态相互作用导致了尺寸差异。这个大型血统扩展到另外两个领域。其中一个组合可能是通过适应新环境而形成的，但这与额外的尺寸差异无关。我们发现只有微弱的证据表明环境过滤在构建具有最小尺寸范围的剩余组合中很重要。重复的组合结构是不同进化和历史过程的结果。我们的方法阐明了当典型的聚类方法可能不足时如何构建物种组合。我们发现只有微弱的证据表明环境过滤在构建具有最小尺寸范围的剩余组合中很重要。重复的组合结构是不同进化和历史过程的结果。我们的方法阐明了当典型的聚类方法可能不足时如何构建物种组合。我们发现只有微弱的证据表明环境过滤在构建具有最小尺寸范围的剩余组合中很重要。重复的组合结构是不同进化和历史过程的结果。我们的方法阐明了当典型的聚类方法可能不足时如何构建物种组合。