Ontogeny of the morphology-performance axis in an amphibious fish (Kryptolebias marmoratus)
Autor: | Ryan L. Earley, Alastair J. Wilson, Joseph M. Styga, Thomas M. Houslay |
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Rok vydání: | 2018 |
Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine Aging Physiology Ontogeny Amphibious fish Morphology (biology) medicine.disease_cause 010603 evolutionary biology 01 natural sciences 03 medical and health sciences Jumping Genetics medicine Animals Mangrove rivulus Molecular Biology Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics biology Fishes Kryptolebias Terrestrial locomotion biology.organism_classification 030104 developmental biology Evolutionary biology Trait Animal Science and Zoology Locomotion |
Zdroj: | Journal of experimental zoology. Part A, Ecological and integrative physiology. 327(10) |
ISSN: | 2471-5646 |
Popis: | Establishing links between morphology and performance is important for understanding the functional, ecological, and evolutionary implications of morphological diversity. Relationships between morphology and performance are expected to be age dependent if, at different points during ontogeny, animals must perform in different capacities to achieve high fitness returns. Few studies have examined how the relationship between form and function changes across ontogeny. Here, we assess this relationship in the amphibious mangrove rivulus (Kryptolebias marmoratus) fish, a species that is both capable of and reliant on "tail-flip jumping" for terrestrial locomotion. Tail-flip jumping entails an individual transferring its weight to the caudal region of the body, launching itself from the substrate to navigate to new aquatic or semi-aquatic habitats. By combining repeated trials of jumping performance in 237 individuals from distinct age classes with a clearing and staining procedure to visualize bones in the caudal region, we test the hypotheses that as age increases (i) average jumping performance (body lengths jumped) will increase, (ii) the amount of variation for each trait will change, and (iii) the patterns of covariation/correlation among traits, which tell us about the integration of form with function, will also change. We find a significant increase in size-adjusted jumping performance with age, and modification to the correlation structure among traits across ontogeny. However, we also find that significant links between form and function evident in young animals disappear at later ontogenetic stages. Our study suggests that different functional mechanisms may be associated with high performance at different stages of development. |
Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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