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Journal ArticleDOI

Functional trade-offs in the aquatic feeding performance of salamanders.

TL;DR: Findings reveal that specialized morphology increases aquatic feeding performance in a fully aquatic newt.
About: This article is published in Zoology.The article was published on 2017-12-01. It has received 13 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Paramesotriton & Salamandridae.
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Any aquatic vertebrate aiming for a terrestrial lifestyle must change from its aquatic to a terrestrial feeding mechanism, and the mechanical challenges associated with such aquatic–terrestrial transitions in vertebrates are synthesized.
Abstract: Transitions to terrestrial environments confront ancestrally aquatic animals with several mechanical and physiological problems owing to the different physical properties of water and air. As aquatic feeders generally make use of flows of water relative to the head to capture, transport and swallow food, it follows that morphological and behavioral changes were inevitably needed for the aquatic animals to successfully perform these functions on land. Here, we summarize the mechanical requirements of successful aquatic-to-terrestrial transitions in food capture, transport and swallowing by vertebrates and review how different taxa managed to fulfill these requirements. Amphibious ray-finned fishes show a variety of strategies to stably lift the anterior trunk, as well as to grab ground-based food with their jaws. However, they still need to return to the water for the intra-oral transport and swallowing process. Using the same mechanical perspective, the potential capabilities of some of the earliest tetrapods to perform terrestrial feeding are evaluated. Within tetrapods, the appearance of a mobile neck and a muscular and movable tongue can safely be regarded as key factors in the colonization of land away from amphibious habitats. Comparative studies on taxa including salamanders, which change from aquatic feeders as larvae to terrestrial feeders as adults, illustrate remodeling patterns in the hyobranchial system that can be linked to its drastic change in function during feeding. Yet, the precise evolutionary history in form and function of the hyolingual system leading to the origin(s) of a muscular and adhesive tongue remains unknown.

33 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Flow visualization reveals that suction flow speeds increase with mouth diameter, whereas other flow characteristics remain conserved across aquatic vertebrates, and concludes that trophic diversity is not supported by variation in suction flows.
Abstract: Suction feeding is a widespread prey capture strategy among aquatic vertebrates. It is almost omnipresent across fishes, and has repeatedly evolved in other aquatic vertebrates. By rapidly expanding the mouth cavity, suction feeders generate a fluid flow outside of their mouth, drawing prey inside. Fish and other suction-feeding organisms display remarkable trophic diversity, echoed in the diversity of their skull and mouth morphologies. Yet, it is unclear how variable suction flows are across species, and whether variation in suction flows supports trophic diversity. Using a high-speed flow visualization technique, we characterized the spatio-temporal patterns in the flow fields produced during feeding in 14 species of aquatic suction feeders. We found that suction-feeding hydrodynamics are highly conserved across species. Suction flows affected only a limited volume of ∼1 gape diameter away from the mouth, and peaked around the timing of maximal mouth opening. The magnitude of flow speed increased with increasing mouth diameter and, to a lesser extent, with decreasing time to peak gape opening. Other morphological, kinematic and behavioral variables played a minor role in shaping suction-feeding dynamics. We conclude that the trophic diversity within fishes, and likely other aquatic vertebrates, is not supported by a diversity of mechanisms that modify the characteristics of suction flow. Rather, we suggest that suction feeding supports such trophic diversity owing to the general lack of strong trade-offs with other mechanisms that contribute to prey capture.

25 citations


Cites background from "Functional trade-offs in the aquati..."

  • ...(Stinson and Deban, 2017) (Stinson and Deban, 2017) (Stinson and Deban, 2017) (Stinson and Deban, 2017) (Stinson and Deban, 2017) Fig....

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  • ...…vertebrates confirms the generality of this pattern, at least when feeding away from the substrate (Day et al., 2005; Ferry-Graham et al., 2003; Higham et al., 2006; Lauder and Clark, 1984; Nauwelaerts et al., 2007, 2008; Pekkan et al., 2016; Staab et al., 2012; Stinson and Deban, 2017)....

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  • ...Furthermore, examination of fluid flow fields obtained in flow visualization studies of ray-finned fish, elasmobranchs and other suction-feeding vertebrates confirms the generality of this pattern, at least when feeding away from the substrate (Day et al., 2005; Ferry-Graham et al., 2003; Higham et al., 2006; Lauder and Clark, 1984; Nauwelaerts et al., 2007, 2008; Pekkan et al., 2016; Staab et al., 2012; Stinson and Deban, 2017)....

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  • ...(A) All 403 analyzed feeding strikes including two species from Higham et al. (2006), one species from Ferry-Graham et al. (2003) and five species of salamander from Stinson and Deban (2017)....

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Book ChapterDOI
01 Jan 2019
TL;DR: The goal of this chapter is to inspire and promote future research on integration in order to extend the concept of food capture, and feeding behavior in general, beyond the cranial system in a more holistic approach to function.
Abstract: Prey-capture behavior is unique because in many vertebrates, it requires the coordination between cranial and postcranial functional systems, which are traditionally defined by their separate contributions to feeding and locomotor performance, respectively. Such coordination is referred to as functional integration. First, this chapter reviews the current state of knowledge regarding cranial–postcranial integration during prey-capture behavior in aquatic and terrestrial environments, including quantitative data demonstrating cranial–postcranial coordination unequivocally, and promising qualitative observations and reports that remain to be tested explicitly. The evidence for cranial–postcranial coordination during prey capture in vertebrates are presented to show that (1) integration is an important biological phenomenon occurring across environments and (2) differences in integration can be hypothesized across and within clades. Second, the perspectives for investigating cranial–postcranial integration and its variability within and across vertebrate clades are discussed to assess the role of cranial–postcranial integration in the evolution of feeding. In particular, future research on food capture is suggested to focus on the flexibility of coordination patterns in response to food properties, as well as the sensorimotor control of cranial–postcranial coordination. The goal of this chapter is to inspire and promote future research on integration in order to extend the concept of food capture, and feeding behavior in general, beyond the cranial system in a more holistic approach to function.

16 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Functional trade-offs of the hyobranchial apparatus result in lower tongue-projection distance, velocity, acceleration and power in semi-aquatic and aquatic salamandrids compared with terrestrial specialists.
Abstract: Salamanders use the hyobranchial apparatus and its associated musculature for tongue projection on land and for suction feeding in water. Hyobranchial apparatus composition and morphology vary across species, and different morphologies are better suited for feeding in aquatic versus terrestrial environments. We hypothesize that differences in hyobranchial morphology result in functional trade-offs in feeding performance. We predict that semi-aquatic and aquatic salamandrids with hyobranchial morphology suited for aquatic feeding will have lower performance, in terms of tongue-projection distance, velocity, acceleration and power, compared with terrestrial salamandrids when feeding in a terrestrial environment. We found that semi-aquatic and aquatic newts had lower velocity, acceleration and muscle-mass-specific power of tongue projection when compared with the terrestrial salamanders Chioglossa lusitanica and Salamandra salamandra . The fully aquatic newt, Paramesotriton labiatus , has a robust, heavily mineralized hyobranchial apparatus and was unable to project its tongue during terrestrial feeding, and instead exhibited suction-feeding movements better suited for aquatic feeding. Conversely, terrestrial species have slender, cartilaginous hyobranchial apparatus and enlarged tongue pads that coincided with greater tongue-projection distance, velocity, acceleration and power. Chioglossa lusitanica exhibited extreme tongue-projection performance, similar to that seen in elastically projecting plethodontid salamanders; muscle-mass-specific power of tongue projection exceeded 2200 W kg −1 , more than 350 times that of the next highest performer, S . salamandra , which reached 6.3 W kg −1 . These findings reveal that two fully terrestrial salamandrids have morphological specializations that yield greater tongue-projection performance compared with species that naturally feed in both aquatic and terrestrial environments.

11 citations


Cites background or result from "Functional trade-offs in the aquati..."

  • ...These differences, as well as those measured in aquatically feeding salamandrids, indicate that functional trade-offs occur in species that feed across environments (Miller and Larsen, 1989, 1990; Stinson and Deban, 2017)....

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  • ...Morphological and kinematic specializations, such as greater mineralization of the hyobranchial apparatus and faster hyobranchial depression, produce higher fluid velocity in aquatically feeding newts (Miller and Larsen, 1989; Stinson and Deban, 2017)....

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  • ...A robust hyobranchial apparatus better resists flexion as the oropharynx is expanded, permitting faster and more forceful hyobranchial depression (Stinson and Deban, 2017)....

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  • ...Studies of aquatic feeding morphology and performance have found that salamanders with more robust and mineralized hyobranchial apparatus produce greater fluid velocity during suction-feeding events (Özeti andWake, 1969;Miller and Larsen, 1989; Stinson and Deban, 2017)....

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  • ...…trade-offs in salamander feeding Feeding morphology and performance (i.e. tongue-projection distance, velocity, acceleration and power) are specialized for terrestrial feeding in Chioglossa and Salamandra, whereas Paramesotriton is specialized for aquatic feeding (Stinson and Deban, 2017)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Estimates of elastic energy storage and frictional losses during suction events support the hypothesis that small suction feeders convert a large proportion of the elastic energy stored in the trap walls into kinetic energy of the inspired water, with little energy thermalized due to friction.
Abstract: The carnivorous plant bladderwort exemplifies the use of accumulated elastic energy to power motion: respiration-driven pumps slowly load the walls of its suction traps with elastic energy (∼1 h). During a feeding strike, this energy is released suddenly to accelerate water (∼1 ms). However, due to the traps' small size and concomitant low Reynolds number, a significant fraction of the stored energy may be dissipated as viscous friction. Such losses and the mechanical reversibility of Stokes flow are thought to degrade the feeding success of other suction feeders in this size range, such as larval fish. In contrast, triggered bladderwort traps are generally successful. By mapping the energy budget of a bladderwort feeding strike, we illustrate how this smallest of suction feeders can perform like an adult fish.

10 citations

References
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TL;DR: In this paper, a different approach to problems of multiple significance testing is presented, which calls for controlling the expected proportion of falsely rejected hypotheses -the false discovery rate, which is equivalent to the FWER when all hypotheses are true but is smaller otherwise.
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TL;DR: This study provides further evidence that the supermatrix approach provides an effective strategy for inferring large-scale phylogenies using the combined results of previous studies, despite many taxa having extensive missing data.

1,262 citations

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TL;DR: A specific tension value of 22.5 N X cm-2 appears to be a reasonable value for all mixed muscles studied in the guinea pig hindlimb and can be used to estimate their Po.
Abstract: The position of small metallic markers embedded within the lung parenchyma and glued to the pleural surface of four excised right caudal dog lobes were determined during stepwise deflation from an ...

477 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The results support recent taxonomic changes in finding the traditional genera Mertensiella, Euproctus, and Triturus to be non-monophyletic species assemblages and suggest that the initial diversification of extant salamandrids took place in Europe about 97 or 69Ma.

216 citations