Character displacement drives trait divergence in a continental fauna

Abstract

Coexisting (sympatric) pairs of closely related species are often characterized by exaggerated trait differences. This widespread pattern is consistent with adaptation for reduced similarity due to costly interactions (i.e., “character displacement”)—a classic hypothesis in evolutionary theory. But it is equally consistent with a community assembly bias in which lineages with greater trait differences are more likely to establish overlapping ranges in the first place (i.e., “species sorting”), as well as with null expectations of trait divergence through time. Few comparative analyses have explicitly modeled these alternatives, and it remains unclear whether trait divergence is a general prerequisite for sympatry or a consequence of interactions between sympatric species. Here, we develop statistical models that allow us to distinguish the signature of these processes based on patterns of trait divergence in closely related lineage pairs. We compare support for each model using a dataset of bill shape differences in 207 pairs of New World terrestrial birds representing 30 avian families. We find that character displacement models are overwhelmingly supported over species sorting and null expectations, indicating that exaggerated bill shape differences in sympatric pairs result from enhanced divergent selection in sympatry. We additionally detect a latitudinal gradient in character displacement, which appears strongest in the tropics. Our analysis implicates costly species interactions as powerful drivers of trait divergence in a major vertebrate fauna. These results help substantiate a long-standing but equivocally supported linchpin of evolutionary theory.