Abstract：
AbstractPopulation-level variation in rodent tail structures has been variously attributed to facilitating social communication, locomotion, thermoregulation, and predator avoidance. Little is known, however, about the applicability of these ecological and social correlates to explaining the tremendous interspecific diversity of this appendage. To investigate the potential drivers of rodent tail morphology at a macroevolutionary level, we first carefully reviewed the literature and constructed a list of major hypotheses regarding this variation. We then compiled a database of 11 different tail traits related to length, color, texture, and ecological characteristics for 2,101 species of rodents (order Rodentia) and examined their key evolutionary correlates. Using Bayesian phylogenetic mixed models across the entire order and additionally within the five rodent suborders, we found that tail length is correlated with both temperature (Allen\'s rule) and locomotory mode, that black tips are more common in brightly lit environments, that naked tails are often found in warmer climates, that fluffy-tipped tails are more common in smaller and/or arboreal species, that prehensility is predominant in arboreal species and/or species with longer tails, and that tail autotomy is more common in open environments. Most of our tested predictions, largely drawn from population-level studies, are not recapitulated across the entire order, potentially indicating a role of local ecological context in shaping tail morphology.
摘要：
啮齿动物尾巴结构的种群水平变化被不同地归因于促进社会交往，运动，体温调节,和捕食者回避。鲜为人知，然而,关于这些生态和社会相关性的适用性，以解释这种附属物的巨大种间多样性。为了在宏观进化水平上研究啮齿动物尾部形态的潜在驱动因素，我们首先仔细回顾了文献,并构建了关于这种变异的主要假设列表.然后，我们编制了一个数据库，包含11种与长度相关的不同尾部性状，颜色,纹理,和2,101种啮齿动物（啮齿动物）的生态特征，并检查了它们的关键进化相关性。在整个序列中以及在五个啮齿动物亚序中使用贝叶斯系统发育混合模型，我们发现尾长与温度（艾伦法则）和运动模式相关，黑色尖端在明亮的环境中更常见，裸露的尾巴经常出现在温暖的气候中，蓬松的尾巴在较小和/或树栖物种中更常见，在树栖物种和/或尾巴较长的物种中，尾巴自切断术在开放环境中更为常见。我们的大部分测试预测，主要来自人口水平的研究，没有在整个订单中概括，可能表明当地生态环境在塑造尾巴形态中的作用。
