Soft Bodies, Hard Jaws: An Introduction to the Symposium, with Rotifers as Models of Jaw Diversity
| Autor: | Elizabeth J. Walsh, Robert L. Wallace, Rick Hochberg |
|---|---|
| Rok vydání: | 2015 |
| Předmět: |
Elemental composition
Range (biology) Ecology media_common.quotation_subject Structural diversity Plant Science Biology Taxon Polyphyly Soft Bodies Hard Jaws: Phylogenetic Diversity of Prey Capture and Processing in Jawed Soft-bodied Invertebrates Animal Science and Zoology Neuromuscular control Invertebrate Diversity (politics) media_common |
| Zdroj: | Integrative and Comparative Biology. 55:179-192 |
| ISSN: | 1557-7023 1540-7063 |
| DOI: | 10.1093/icb/icv002 |
| Popis: | Jaws have evolved numerous times in the animal kingdom and they display a wide variety of structural, compositional, and functional characteristics that reflect their polyphyletic origins. Among soft-bodied invertebrates, jaws are known from annelids, chaetognaths, flatworms, gnathostomulids, micrognathozoans, mollusks, rotifers, and several ecdysozoans. Depending on the taxon, jaws may function in the capture of prey (e.g., chaetognaths and flatworms), processing of prey (e.g., gnathostomulids and onychophorans), or both (e.g., rotifers). Although structural diversity among invertebrates’ jaws is becoming better characterized with the use of electron microscopy, many details remain poorly described, including neuromuscular control, elemental composition, and physical characteristics, such as hardness and resistance to wear. Unfortunately, absence of relevant data has impeded understanding of their functional diversity and evolutionary origins. With this symposium, we bring together researchers of disparately jawed taxa to draw structural and mechanistic comparisons among species to determine their commonalities. Additionally, we show that rotifers’ jaws, which are perhaps the best-characterized jaws among invertebrates, are still enigmatic with regard to their origins and mechanics. Nevertheless, technologies such as energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX) and 3D modeling are being used to characterize their chemical composition and to develop physical models that allow exploration of their mechanical properties, respectively. We predict that these methods can also be used to develop biomimetic and bioinspired constructs based on the full range of the complexity of jaws, and that such constructs also can be developed from other invertebrate taxa. These approaches may also shed light on common developmental and physiological processes that facilitate the evolution of invertebrates’ jaws. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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