Testing adaptive hypotheses of convergence with functional landscapes: a case study of bone-cracking hypercarnivores.

ABSTRACT: Morphological convergence is a well documented phenomenon in mammals, and adaptive explanations are commonly employed to infer similar functions for convergent characteristics. I present a study that adopts aspects of theoretical morphology and engineering optimization to test hypotheses about adaptive convergent evolution. Bone-cracking ecomorphologies in Carnivora were used as a case study. Previous research has shown that skull deepening and widening are major evolutionary patterns in convergent bone-cracking canids and hyaenids. A simple two-dimensional design space, with skull width-to-length and depth-to-length ratios as variables, was used to examine optimized shapes for two functional properties: mechanical advantage (MA) and strain energy (SE). Functionality of theoretical skull s

SUBMITTER: Tseng ZJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3667121 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature