Genome size does not influence extinction risk in the world's amphibians

作者：Daniel Pincheira‐Donoso, Lilly P. Harvey, Jack V. Johnson, Dave W. Hudson, Catherine Finn, Luke E. B. Goodyear, Jacinta Guirguis, Edel M. Hyland, David J. Hodgson · 发表于：Functional Ecology · 年份：2022 · DOI：10.1111/1365-2435.14247 · 被引用次数：16 · 研究领域：Genetic diversity and population structure、Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies、Evolution and Genetic Dynamics

Abstract Variation in genome size spans multiple orders of magnitude among animals. Despite the longstanding debate regarding the adaptive value or costs of genomic complexity, genome size has been proposed to influence extinction risk under the rapidly changing environments of the Anthropocene. The main hypothesis suggests that genome enlargement increases the accumulation of deleterious mutations while reducing rates of organismal growth and development. These combined effects of larger genome size are predicted to trigger population declines that can lead to extinction, especially under rapidly changing environments that disrupt demographic resilience. Comparative evidence from terrestrial plants and across vertebrates has provided mixed support for this hypothesis. However, large‐scale comparative studies based on explicit phylogenetic approaches remain lacking. Using a global‐scale amphibian dataset and two recognised proxies of extinction risk (International Union for Conservation of Nature IUCN conservation categories and population trends), we test the prediction that genomes are larger (as estimated by C‐value) in species facing extinction risk. We combine these analyses with life‐history traits widely known to be implicated with extinctions (body size, fecundity), along with a range of environmental factors. Our phylogenetic analyses consistently failed to identify an effect of genome size on either of the two proxies for extinction risk. The only consistent predict...