Morphological variability decreases in populations living in less suitable environments and close to the range edges

Aim: Geographic range expansion depends on ecological and evolutionary processes that may hamper local adaptations in populations living at range edges by constraining phenotypic variability. This study investigates the spatial patterns of the intraspecific variability of skull traits throughout the geographic range of a marsupial from the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. We aimed to answer whether the distance from the range edge and the environmental suitability explain the geographic variation of morphological variability of the species.
Location: Atlantic Forest, Brazil.
Taxon: Marmosops incanus (Didelphimorphia, Didelphidae).
Methods: We analysed adult specimens deposited in the main biological collections in southeastern Brazil. The morphological variability extent and integration within populations were characterised by 13 linear measures of the skull, using a multivariate approach. Environmental suitability for the species’ occurrence was estimated by Ecological Niche Models, using cl..., Please see the README.md document and the metadata.txt located within the /data directory for data collection and analysis information. More details on methods can be found in the accompanying published article: Braz, A.G.; Figueiredo, M.S.L.; Weber, M.M.; Grelle, C.E.V. 2023 Morphological variability decreases in populations living in less suitable environments and close to the range edges. Journal of Biogeography, doi: 10.1111/jbi.14687, All datasets, outputs and codes were created and/or processed in R language. Please see the README.md document and the metadata.txt located within the /data directory for data collection and analysis information. More details on methods can be found in the accompanying published article: Braz, A.G.; Figueiredo, M.S.L.; Weber, M.M.; Grelle, C.E.V. 2023 Morphological variability decreases in populations living in less suitable environments and close to the range edges. Journal of Biogeography, 10.1111/jbi.14687