Abstract
Geographic isolation plays a major role in biological diversification. Yet, adaptive divergence also can occur with ongoing gene flow, but the minimal spatial scale required for this is unclear. Here, we hypothesized that local gradients in soil clay and water contents respectively select for anti-adherent and hypoxia-tolerant phenotypes in soil invertebrates, thereby driving intraspecific phenotypic divergence despite unlimited, passive dispersal. We tested this idea using the parthenogenetic oribatid mite Rostrozetes ovulum, an abundant species in tropical forest soils. We obtained 40 individuals from valleys and uplands within 4 km2 of rainforest in central Amazonia, and estimated soil clay and water contents for each site. Then, we experimentally assessed submersion tolerance of each individual, measured its body size, shape and structural traits, and inferred anti-adherence from the extent of debris attached to its body. We found that morphological distance was greater between than within habitats while being independent of geographic distance, which itself was unrelated to habitat. Further, using structural equation modelling, we found that clayish soils harboured mites with fewer, larger dorsal pits that were less likely to have attached debris, consistent with an anti-adherent morphology. To a lower degree, individuals from moister soils tended to survive submersion longer, likely through anaerobiosis. These patterns could reflect phenotypic plasticity, local adaptation or some combination thereof. Altogether, they suggest that environmental gradients may trigger local-scale animal diversification in soils, contributing to the exceptional biodiversity of this substrate.
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All data generated and analysed during this study are included in this article as a supplementary information file (Online Resource 2).
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Acknowledgements
We thank Diego R. Guilherme and Breno Y. Azevedo for their assistance in field work and in the submersion experiment, respectively. We also thank Carolina Almeida and Alfredo Alexandrino for their support with scanning electron microscopy in the Laboratory of Mineralogical Techniques at the Federal University of Amazonas. This work was supported by the Foundation for Research Support of Amazonas State (Grant “Programa Universal Amazonas 030/2013”), and the first author received a scholarship from the Brazilian Coordination for the Advancement of Higher Education (CAPES) during this study.
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This study was funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (Grant No. 88887.477573/2020-00)
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All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Material preparation and data collection were performed by PACLP and EF. Analysis was performed by PACLP, who also wrote the first draft of the manuscript. All authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript, and read and approved the final manuscript.
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Pequeno, P.A.C.L., Franklin, E. & Norton, R.A. Microgeographic Morphophysiological Divergence in an Amazonian Soil Mite. Evol Biol 48, 160–169 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-020-09528-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11692-020-09528-4