Data from: Increased energy promotes size-based niche availability in marine mollusks

Variation in chemical energy, i.e., food, availability is posited to cause variation in body size. However, examinations of the relationship are rare and primarily limited to amniotes and zooplankton. Moreover, the relationship between body size and chemical energy may be impacted by phylogenetic history, clade specific ecology, and heterogeneity of chemical energy in space and time. Considerable work remains to both document patterns in body size over gradients in food availability and understanding the processes potentially generating them. Here, we examine the functional relationship between body size and chemical energy availability over a broad assortment of marine mollusks varying in habitat and mobility. We demonstrate that chemical energy availability is likely driving body size patterns across habitats. We find that lower food availability decreases size-based niche availability by setting hard constraints on maximum size and potentially on minimum size depending on clade-specific ecology. Conversely, higher food availability promotes greater niche availability and potentially promotes evolutionary innovation with regard to size. We posit based on these findings and previous work that increases in chemical energy are important to the diversification of Metazoans through size-mediated niche processes.

化学能（即食物）的可获得性变化被认为是导致体型差异的诱因。然而，目前针对这一关系的研究尚不多见，且主要局限于羊膜动物与浮游动物类群。此外，体型与化学能可获得性之间的关联可能受到系统发育历史、支系专属生态学特征，以及化学能时空分布异质性的影响。当前仍有大量研究工作亟待开展：既要厘清食物可获得性梯度下的体型分布模式，也要解析驱动该模式形成的潜在过程。本研究针对栖息环境与运动方式各不相同的多类海洋软体动物，探究了体型与化学能可获得性之间的功能关系。研究结果表明，化学能可获得性可能是不同生境下体型分布模式的核心驱动因素。我们发现，较低的食物可获得性会通过对最大体型施加硬性限制（根据支系专属生态学特征，还可能同时限制最小体型），进而降低基于体型的生态位可获得性。反之，较高的食物可获得性则能提升生态位可获得性，并可能推动体型相关的演化创新。基于本研究结果与既往研究，我们提出：化学能可获得性的提升通过体型介导的生态位过程，对后生动物（Metazoans）的物种分化具有关键意义。