Did natural selection or genetic drift produce the cranial diversification of neotropical monkeys?

A central controversy among biologists is the relative importance of natural selection and genetic drift as creative forces shaping biological diversification ( Fisher 1930; Wright 1931). Historically, this controversy has been an effective engine powering several evolutionary research programs during the last century (Provine 1989). While all biologists agree that both processes operate in nature to produce evolutionary change, there is a diversity of opinion about which process dominates at any particular organizational level ( from DNA and proteins to complex morphologies). To address this last level, we did a broadscale analysis of cranial diversification among all living New World monkeys. Quantitative genetic models yield specific predictions about the relationship between variation patterns within and between populations that may be used to test the hypothesis that genetic drift is a sufficient explanation for morphological diversification. Diversity at several levels in a hierarchy of taxonomic/ phylogenetics relationship was examined from species within genera to families within superfamilies. The major conclusion is that genetic drift can be ruled out as the primary source of evolutionary diversification in cranial morphology among taxa at the level of the genus and above as well as for diversification of most genera. However, drift may account for diversification among species within some Neotropical primate genera, implying that morphological diversification associated with speciation need not be adaptive in some radiations.