Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40075190›Full record

ArticleNature ecology & evolution2025

Fundamental constraints on vertebrate life history are shaped by aquatic-terrestrial transitions and reproductive mode.

George C Brooks, Josef C Uyeda, Nicholas J Bone, Hailey M Conrad, Christopher G Mull, Holly K Kindsvater

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Nature ecology & evolution, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

George C BrooksDepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA. boa10gb@vt.edu.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9006-6465
Josef C UyedaDepartment of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Nicholas J BoneDepartment of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Hailey M ConradDepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.
Christopher G MullDepartment of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1710-8256
Holly K KindsvaterDepartment of Fish and Wildlife Conservation, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7580-4095

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Vertebrate life histories evolve in response to selection imposed by abiotic and biotic environmental conditions while being limited by genetic, developmental, physiological, demographic and phylogenetic processes that constrain adaptation. Despite the well-recognized shifts in selective pressures accompanying transitions among environments, the conditions driving innovation and the consequences for life-history evolution remain outstanding questions. Here we compare the traits of vertebrates that occupy aquatic or terrestrial environments as juveniles to infer shifts in evolutionary constraints that explain differences in their life-history traits and thus their fundamental demographic rates. Our results emphasize the reduced potential for life-history diversification on land, especially that of reproductive strategies, which limits the scope of viable life-history strategies. Moreover, our study reveals differences between the evolution of viviparity in aquatic and terrestrial realms. Transitions from egg laying to live birth represent a major shift across life-history space for aquatic organisms, whereas terrestrial egg-laying organisms evolve live birth without drastic changes in life-history strategy. Whilst trade-offs in the allocation of resources place fundamental constraints on the way life histories can vary, ecological setting influences the position of species within the viable phenotypic space available for adaptive evolution.

Indexed as

Biological EvolutionLife History TraitsReproductionVertebratesAnimalsFemale

Identifiers

PMID40075190

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.