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Schwarz D, Heiss E, Pierson TW, Konow N, Schoch RR. Using salamanders as model taxa to understand vertebrate feeding constraints during the late Devonian water-to-land transition. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220541. [PMID: 37839447 PMCID: PMC10577038 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0541] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2023] [Accepted: 07/23/2023] [Indexed: 10/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The vertebrate water-to-land transition and the rise of tetrapods brought about fundamental changes for the groups undergoing these evolutionary changes (i.e. stem and early tetrapods). These groups were forced to adapt to new conditions, including the distinct physical properties of water and air, requiring fundamental changes in anatomy. Nutrition (or feeding) was one of the prime physiological processes these vertebrates had to successfully adjust to change from aquatic to terrestrial life. The basal gnathostome feeding mode involves either jaw prehension or using water flows to aid in ingestion, transportation and food orientation. Meanwhile, processing was limited primarily to simple chewing bites. However, given their comparatively massive and relatively inflexible hyobranchial system (compared to the more muscular tongue of many tetrapods), it remains fraught with speculation how stem and early tetrapods managed to feed in both media. Here, we explore ontogenetic water-to-land transitions of salamanders as functional analogues to model potential changes in the feeding behaviour of stem and early tetrapods. Our data suggest two scenarios for terrestrial feeding in stem and early tetrapods as well as the presence of complex chewing behaviours, including excursions of the jaw in more than one dimension during early developmental stages. Our results demonstrate that terrestrial feeding may have been possible before flexible tongues evolved. This article is part of the theme issue 'Food processing and nutritional assimilation in animals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel Schwarz
- Department of Palaeontology, State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany
- Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Erbertstrasse 1, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Egon Heiss
- Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Erbertstrasse 1, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Todd W. Pierson
- Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Kennesaw State University, Kennesaw, GA 30144, USA
| | - Nicolai Konow
- Department of Biological Sciences, University of Massachusetts Lowell, 198 Riverside Street, Lowell, MA 01854, USA
| | - Rainer R. Schoch
- Department of Palaeontology, State Museum of Natural History Stuttgart, Rosenstein 1, 70191 Stuttgart, Germany
- Institute for Biology, Department of Palaeontology, University of Hohenheim, Wollgrasweg 23, 70599 Stuttgart, Germany
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Deban SM, Holzman R, Müller UK. Suction Feeding by Small Organisms: Performance Limits in Larval Vertebrates and Carnivorous Plants. Integr Comp Biol 2020; 60:852-863. [PMID: 32658970 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icaa105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Suction feeding has evolved independently in two highly disparate animal and plant systems, aquatic vertebrates and carnivorous bladderworts. We review the suction performance of animal and plant suction feeders to explore biomechanical performance limits for aquatic feeders based on morphology and kinematics, in the context of current knowledge of suction feeding. While vertebrates have the greatest diversity and size range of suction feeders, bladderworts are the smallest and fastest known suction feeders. Body size has profound effects on aquatic organismal function, including suction feeding, particularly in the intermediate flow regime that tiny organisms can experience. A minority of tiny organisms suction feed, consistent with model predictions that generating effective suction flow is less energetically efficient and also requires more flow-rate specific power at small size. Although the speed of suction flows generally increases with body and gape size, some specialized tiny plant and animal predators generate suction flows greater than those of suction feeders 100 times larger. Bladderworts generate rapid flow via high-energy and high-power elastic recoil and suction feed for nutrients (relying on photosynthesis for energy). Small animals may be limited by available muscle energy and power, although mouth protrusion can offset the performance cost of not generating high suction pressure. We hypothesize that both the high energetic costs and high power requirements of generating rapid suction flow shape the biomechanics of small suction feeders, and that plants and animals have arrived at different solutions due in part to their different energy budgets.
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Affiliation(s)
- Stephen M Deban
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, 4202 E. Fowler Ave, SCA 110, Tampa, FL 33620, USA
| | - Roi Holzman
- School of Zoology, Faculty of Life Sciences, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv, 69978, Israel.,The Inter-University for Marine Sciences in Eilat, Israel
| | - Ulrike K Müller
- Department of Biology, California State University Fresno, Fresno, CA 93740, USA
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Heiss E, Grell J. Same but different: aquatic prey capture in paedomorphic and metamorphic Alpine newts. ZOOLOGICAL LETTERS 2019; 5:24. [PMID: 31372238 PMCID: PMC6660708 DOI: 10.1186/s40851-019-0140-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/05/2019] [Accepted: 07/08/2019] [Indexed: 06/10/2023]
Abstract
Paedomorphosis describes the retention of larval characters in adult stages and is widespread amongst salamanders. Salamandrid newts exhibit facultative paedomorphosis, where paedomorphic and metamorphic adult forms coexist in the same population. Previous studies have shown that prey capture kinematics do not differ between paedomorphic and metamorphosed ambystomatid salamanders, despite diverging morphology and prey capture performance. It remained unclear, however, whether the stereotypy of prey capture kinematics across morphotypes is restricted to ambystomatids, or can be found in other salamander groups too. Here, we performed biplanar high-speed-recordings of the prey capture behavior in paedomorphic and metamorphic salamandrid newts and only found minor kinematic differences across morphotypes, suggesting that stereotypy across morphotypes is a more general feature within salamanders. We then compared anatomy of skull and hyobranchial skeleton, along with the physiological cross sectional area (PCSA) of the rectus cervicis muscle, the main muscle empowering suction feeding. Besides the overall morphological differences of the feeding apparatus, the PCSA of the rectus cervicis also differs significantly between morphotypes, being twice as large in paedomorphs. Accordingly, paedomorphs can exert more powerful suction strikes, which in turn may be one of the key factors why paedomorphs are more efficient in capturing elusive prey compared to metamorphs.
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Affiliation(s)
- Egon Heiss
- Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Erbertstr. 1, 07743 Jena, Germany
| | - Julia Grell
- Institute of Zoology and Evolutionary Research, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Erbertstr. 1, 07743 Jena, Germany
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Adhesive force and endurance during waterfall climbing in an amphidromous gobiid, Sicyopterus japonicus (Teleostei: Gobiidae): Ontogenetic scaling of novel locomotor performance. ZOOLOGY 2019; 133:10-16. [PMID: 30979386 DOI: 10.1016/j.zool.2019.02.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/11/2018] [Revised: 02/03/2019] [Accepted: 02/04/2019] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
An amphidromous sicydiine goby, Sicyopterus japonicus, exhibits rock-climbing behavior during upstream migration along rivers and streams. Using a pelvic sucker formed by fused pelvic fins, S. japonicus generates suction adhesion on the climbing surface. By measuring performance variables that correlate with successful rock-climbing capability, we evaluated scaling relationships of adhesive suction force generated by the pelvic sucker and fatigue during climbing in S. japonicus during ontogeny. In continuous climbing on the experimental 60°-inclined surface, the pelvic sucker of S. japonicus exhibited strong positive allometry in generating suction force for adhesion during ontogeny. In contrast, fatigue time of the pelvic sucker muscles for sustained adhesion scaled non-linearly with body mass during ontogeny. In addition, fatigue time and body mass showed the best fit to a quadratic regression, which predicted intermediate-sized individuals (large juveniles to small adults) to have better performance in adhesive endurance than smaller or larger individuals. Our experimental results indicate that different sizes of waterfall-climbing gobies have different performance capacities for rock climbing perhaps because of physiological differences in their pelvic muscles. In addition, our data from S. japonicus indicates that selection pressures on the locomotor capacities of waterfall-climbing gobiids vary during ontogeny.
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Scaling of work and power in a locomotor muscle of a frog. J Comp Physiol B 2018; 188:623-634. [PMID: 29480359 DOI: 10.1007/s00360-018-1148-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/24/2017] [Revised: 01/25/2018] [Accepted: 02/06/2018] [Indexed: 10/17/2022]
Abstract
Muscle work and power are important determinants of movement performance in animals. How these muscle properties scale determines, in part, the scaling of performance during movements, such as jump height or distance. Muscle-mass-specific work is predicted to remain constant across a range of scales, assuming geometric similarity, while muscle-mass-specific power is expected to decrease with increasing scale. We tested these predictions by examining muscle morphology and contractile properties of plantaris muscles from frogs ranging in mass from 1.28 to 20.60 g. Scaling of muscle work and power was examined using both linear regression on log10-transformed data (LR) and non-linear regressions on untransformed data (NLR). Results depended on the method of regression not because of large changes in scaling slopes, but because of changing levels of statistical significance using corrections for multiple tests, demonstrating the importance of careful consideration of statistical methods when analyzing patterns of scaling. In LR, muscle-mass-specific work decreased with increasing scale, but an accompanying positive allometry of muscle mass predicts constant movement performance at all scales. These relationships were non-significant in NLR, though scaling with geometric similarity also predicts constant jump performance across scales, because of proportional increases in available muscle energy and body mass. Both intrinsic shortening velocity and muscle-mass-specific power were positively allometric in both types of analysis. Nonetheless, scale accounts for little variation in contractile properties overall over the range examined, indicating that other sources of intraspecific variation may be more important in determining muscle performance and its effects on movement.
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Heiss E, De Vylder M. Dining dichotomy: aquatic and terrestrial prey capture behavior in the Himalayan newt Tylototriton verrucosus. Biol Open 2016; 5:1500-1507. [PMID: 27612510 PMCID: PMC5087686 DOI: 10.1242/bio.020925] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/25/2022] Open
Abstract
Transitions between aquatic and terrestrial prey capture are challenging. Trophic shifts demand a high degree of behavioral flexibility to account for different physical circumstances between water and air to keep performance in both environments. The Himalayan newt, Tylototriton verrucosus, is mostly terrestrial but becomes aquatic during its short breeding period. Nonetheless, it was assumed that it lacks the capability of trophic behavioral flexibility, only captures prey on land by its tongue (lingual prehension) and does not feed in water. This theory was challenged from stomach content analyses in wild populations that found a variety of aquatic invertebrates in the newts' stomachs during their breeding season. Accordingly, we hypothesized that T. verrucosus actively changes its terrestrial prey capture mechanism to hunt for aquatic prey at least during its aquatic stage. In fact, the kinematic analyses showed that T. verrucosus uses lingual prehension to capture prey on land but changes to suction feeding for aquatic strikes. The statistical analyses revealed that terrestrial and aquatic strikes differ significantly in most kinematic parameters while behavioral variability does not differ between both behaviors. In turn, the movement patterns in suction feeding showed a higher degree of coordination between jaw and hyoid movements compared to the putative primary feeding mode, namely lingual prehension. We conclude that T. verrucosus, though relatively slow compared to trophic specialists, benefits from a high degree of behavioral flexibility that allows exploiting food sources efficiently from two very different habitats. Summary:Tylototriton verrucosus uses lingual prehension for terrestrial prey capture and switches to suction feeding for aquatic strikes. This flexible prey capture behavior enables efficient food acquisition in two very different habitats.
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Affiliation(s)
- Egon Heiss
- Istitute of Systematic Zoology and Evolutionary Biology, Friedrich-Schiller-University of Jena, Jena, Germany. Erbertstr, Jena 1 07743, Germany Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Universiteitplein 1, Antwerp B-2610, Belgium
| | - Marie De Vylder
- Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium. Universiteitplein 1, Antwerp B-2610, Belgium
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Flexibility is everything: prey capture throughout the seasonal habitat switches in the smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris. ORG DIVERS EVOL 2014; 15:127-142. [PMID: 26097413 PMCID: PMC4470538 DOI: 10.1007/s13127-014-0187-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/20/2014] [Accepted: 10/16/2014] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Abstract
Transitions between aquatic and terrestrial habitats are significant steps in vertebrate evolution. Due to the different biophysical demands on the whole organism in water and air, such transitions require major changes of many physiological functions, including feeding. Accordingly, the capability to modulate the pre-programmed chain of prey-capture movements might be essential to maintain performance in a new environment. Newts are of special interest in this regard as they show a multiphasic lifestyle where adults change seasonally between an aquatic and a terrestrial stage. For instance, the Alpine newt is capable of using tongue prehension to feed on land only when in the terrestrial stage, but still manages to suction feed if immersed whilst in terrestrial stage. During the aquatic stage, terrestrial feeding always involved grasping prey by the jaws. Here, we show that this seasonal shift in feeding behavior is also present in a species with a shorter terrestrial stage, the smooth newt Lissotriton vulgaris. Behavioral variability increases when animals change from aquatic to terrestrial strikes in the aquatic stage, but prey-capture movements seem to be generally well-coordinated across the feeding modes. Only suction feeding in the terrestrial stage was seldom performed and appeared uncoordinated. Our results indicate that newts exhibit a high degree of seasonal flexibility of the prey-capture behavior. The similarity between movement patterns of suction feeding and terrestrial feeding suggests that only relatively subtle neuromotoric adjustments to the ancestral, suction-feeding motor program are required to successfully feed in the new environment.
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Heiss E, Aerts P, Van Wassenbergh S. Masters of change: seasonal plasticity in the prey-capture behavior of the Alpine newt Ichthyosaura alpestris (Salamandridae). ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2014; 216:4426-34. [PMID: 24259258 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.091991] [Citation(s) in RCA: 22] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Transitions between aquatic and terrestrial environments are significant steps in vertebrate evolution. These transitions require major changes in many biological functions, including food uptake and transport. The Alpine newt, Ichthyosaura alpestris, is known to show a 'multiphasic lifestyle' where the adult shifts from a terrestrial to an aquatic lifestyle and then back to a terrestrial lifestyle every year as a result of its breeding activity. These transitions correspond to dramatic changes in morphology, physiology and behavior, resulting in distinct aquatic and terrestrial morphotypes. We hypothesized that these shifts go along with changes in prey-capture mechanics to maintain a sufficiently high performance in both environments. We analyzed the prey-capture kinematics in the four possible modes: aquatic strikes in the aquatic phase, terrestrial strikes in the terrestrial phase, aquatic strikes in the terrestrial phase and terrestrial strikes in the aquatic phase. A multivariate comparison detected significant kinematic differences between the phase-specific feeding modes. In both the aquatic and the terrestrial phase, I. alpestris uses a suction-feeding mechanism for capturing prey in water. By contrast, I. alpestris uses a jaw-based grasping mechanism with a kinematic profile similar to the aquatic modes for terrestrial prey-capture in its aquatic phase but an elaborate lingual-based prehension mechanism to capture terrestrial prey in the terrestrial phase. These results exhibit a so-far unknown amount of behavioral plasticity in prey-capture behavior that is tuned to the seasonal demands of performance, and exemplify functional mechanisms behind aquatic-terrestrial transitions in vertebrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- Egon Heiss
- Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Antwerp, Belgium
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Neves DP, Banhazi TM, Nääs IA. Feeding behaviour of broiler chickens: a review on the biomechanical characteristics. BRAZILIAN JOURNAL OF POULTRY SCIENCE 2014. [DOI: 10.1590/1516-635x16021-16] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- DP Neves
- State University of Campinas, Brazil
| | - TM Banhazi
- University of Southern Queensland, Australia
| | - IA Nääs
- State University of Campinas, Brazil
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Heiss E, Natchev N, Gumpenberger M, Weissenbacher A, Van Wassenbergh S. Biomechanics and hydrodynamics of prey capture in the Chinese giant salamander reveal a high-performance jaw-powered suction feeding mechanism. J R Soc Interface 2013; 10:20121028. [PMID: 23466557 PMCID: PMC3627076 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2012.1028] [Citation(s) in RCA: 38] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
During the evolutionary transition from fish to tetrapods, a shift from uni- to bidirectional suction feeding systems followed a reduction in the gill apparatus. Such a shift can still be observed during metamorphosis of salamanders, although many adult salamanders retain their aquatic lifestyle and feed by high-performance suction. Unfortunately, little is known about the interplay between jaws and hyobranchial motions to generate bidirectional suction flows. Here, we study the cranial morphology, as well as kinematic and hydrodynamic aspects related to prey capture in the Chinese giant salamander (Andrias davidianus). Compared with fish and previously studied amphibians, A. davidianus uses an alternative suction mechanism that mainly relies on accelerating water by separating the 'plates' formed by the long and broad upper and lower jaw surfaces. Computational fluid dynamics simulations, based on three-dimensional morphology and kinematical data from high-speed videos, indicate that the viscerocranial elements mainly serve to accommodate the water that was given a sufficient anterior-to-posterior impulse beforehand by powerful jaw separation. We hypothesize that this modified way of generating suction is primitive for salamanders, and that this behaviour could have played an important role in the evolution of terrestrial life in vertebrates by releasing mechanical constraints on the hyobranchial system.
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Affiliation(s)
- Egon Heiss
- Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, , Antwerp 2610, Belgium
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Anderson CV, Sheridan T, Deban SM. Scaling of the ballistic tongue apparatus in chameleons. J Morphol 2012; 273:1214-26. [PMID: 22730103 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20053] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/22/2011] [Revised: 04/09/2012] [Accepted: 05/23/2012] [Indexed: 11/06/2022]
Abstract
Body dimensions of organisms can have a profound impact on their functional and structural properties. We examined the morphological proportions of the feeding apparatus of 105 chameleon specimens representing 23 species in seven genera, spanning a 1,000-fold range in body mass to test whether the feeding apparatus conforms to the null hypotheses of geometric similarity that is based on the prevalence of geometric similarity in other ectothermic vertebrates. We used a phylogenetically corrected regression analysis based on a composite phylogenetic hypothesis to determine the interspecific scaling patterns of the feeding apparatus. We also determined the intraspecific (ontogenetic) scaling patterns for the feeding apparatus in three species. We found that both intraspecifically and interspecifically, the musculoskeletal components of the feeding apparatus scale isometrically among themselves, independent of body length. The feeding apparatus is thus of conserved proportions regardless of overall body length. In contrast, we found that the tongue apparatus as a whole and its musculoskeletal components scale with negative allometry with respect to snout-vent length--smaller individuals have a proportionately larger feeding apparatus than larger individuals, both within and among species. Finally, the tongue apparatus as a whole scales with negative allometry with respect to body mass through ontogeny, but with isometry interspecifically. We suggest that the observed allometry may be maintained by natural selection because an enlarged feeding apparatus at small body size may maximize projection distance and the size of prey that smaller animals with higher mass-specific metabolic rates can capture.
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Ryerson WG, Deban SM. Buccal pumping mechanics of Xenopus laevis tadpoles: effects of biotic and abiotic factors. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010; 213:2444-52. [PMID: 20581274 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.038976] [Citation(s) in RCA: 9] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Biotic factors such as body size and shape have long been known to influence kinematics in vertebrates. Movement in aquatic organisms can also be strongly affected by abiotic factors such as the viscosity of the medium. We examined the effects of both biotic factors and abiotic factors on buccal pumping kinematics in Xenopus tadpoles using high-speed imaging of an ontogenetic series of tadpoles combined with experimental manipulation of the medium over a 10-fold range of viscosity. We found influences of both biotic and abiotic factors on tadpole movements; absolute velocities and excursions of the jaws and hyoid were greater in higher viscosity fluid but durations of movements were unaffected. Smaller tadpoles have relatively wider heads and more robust hyoid muscles used in buccal expansion and compression. Lever arm ratios were found to be constant at all sizes; therefore, smaller tadpoles have relatively higher resolved muscle forces and, like tadpoles in more viscous medium, displayed higher absolute velocities of jaw and hyoid movements. Nonetheless, small tadpoles drew in water at lower Reynolds numbers (Re) than predicted by kinematics, due to negative allometry of the buccal pump. Finally, tadpoles transitioned from a flow regime dominated by viscous forces (Re=2) to an intermediate regime (Re=106).
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Affiliation(s)
- William G Ryerson
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620, USA.
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Carreño CA, Nishikawa KC. Aquatic feeding in pipid frogs: the use of suction for prey capture. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2010; 213:2001-8. [PMID: 20511513 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.043380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 37] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Inertial suction feeding is the most common method of prey capture among aquatic vertebrates. However, it had been unclear whether the aquatic frogs in the family Pipidae also used inertial suction for prey capture. In this study, we examined feeding behavior in four species of pipids, Pipa pipa, Xenopus laevis, Hymenochirus boettgeri and Pseudhymenochirus merlini. Pressure in the buccopharyngeal cavity was measured during prey capture. These pressure measurements were coupled with high-speed recordings of feeding behavior. For each species, the internal buccopharyngeal pressure was found to drop significantly below ambient pressure, and changes in pressure corresponded with the onset of mouth opening. Kinematic analysis revealed that all species of pipids generated subambient pressure during prey capture; H. boettgeri and P. merlini relied solely on inertial suction feeding. Pipa pipa and X. laevis additionally employed forelimb scooping during prey capture but both of these species demonstrated the ability to capture prey with inertial suction alone. Based on buccopharyngeal pressure measurements as well as kinematic analyses, we conclude that inertial suction feeding is used during prey capture in these four species of pipids.
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Affiliation(s)
- Carrie A Carreño
- Northern Arizona University, Department of Biological Sciences, PO Box 5640, Flagstaff, AZ 86011, USA.
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Van Wassenbergh S, Aerts P. Aquatic suction feeding dynamics: insights from computational modelling. J R Soc Interface 2009; 6:149-58. [PMID: 18782720 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2008.0311] [Citation(s) in RCA: 58] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Aquatic suction feeding in vertebrates involves extremely unsteady flow, externally as well as internally of the expanding mouth cavity. Consequently, studying the hydrodynamics involved in this process is a challenging research area, where experimental studies and mathematical models gradually aid our understanding of how suction feeding works mechanically. Especially for flow patterns inside the mouth cavity, our current knowledge is almost entirely based on modelling studies. In the present paper, we critically discuss some of the assumptions and limitations of previous analytical models of suction feeding using computational fluid dynamics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam Van Wassenbergh
- Department of Biology, Universiteit Antwerpen, Universiteitsplein 1, 2610 Antwerpen, Belgium.
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Lowry D, Motta PJ. Relative importance of growth and behaviour to elasmobranch suction-feeding performance over early ontogeny. J R Soc Interface 2008; 5:641-52. [PMID: 17939978 DOI: 10.1098/rsif.2007.1189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Development of the ability to capture prey is crucial to predator survival. Trends in food-capture performance over early ontogeny were quantified for leopard sharks Triakis semifasciata and whitespotted bamboosharks Chiloscyllium plagiosum by measuring suction pressure and flow in front of the mouth during feeding. At any size, C. plagiosum produce greater subambient pressure and ingest more rounded water parcels. Maximum subambient pressure scaled with negative allometry in T. semifasciata and was accompanied by an increase in the time to reach maximum gape. Despite a similar trend in buccal expansion timing, maximum pressure in C. plagiosum scaled with isometry and was accompanied by an earlier onset of hyoid depression and a positive allometric increase in buccal reserve volume. Growth was the primary factor responsible for developmental trends in both species, with size-independent behavioural changes contributing little to overall performance variability. Ontogenetic dietary shifts are predicted for both species as a consequence of size-dependent changes in performance. Chiloscyllium plagiosum becomes anatomically and behaviourally canalized towards suction feeding, limiting the effective range of prey capture and possibly necessitating stalking. Triakis semifasciata, by contrast, retains the flexibility to employ both ram and suction and therefore captures more elusive prey with age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dayv Lowry
- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Point Whitney Shellfish Laboratory, 1000 Point Whitney Road, Brinnon, WA 98320-9707, USA.
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WYCKMANS MARISA, VAN WASSENBERGH SAM, ADRIAENS DOMINIQUE, VAN DAMME RAOUL, HERREL ANTHONY. Size-related changes in cranial morphology affect diet in the catfish Clariallabes longicauda. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2007. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1095-8312.2007.00846.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 8] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Van Wassenbergh S, Herrel A, James RS, Aerts P. Scaling of contractile properties of catfish feeding muscles. J Exp Biol 2007; 210:1183-93. [PMID: 17371917 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.000109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 39] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
Biomechanical models are intrinsically limited in explaining the ontogenetic scaling relationships for prey capture kinematics in aquatic vertebrates because no data are available on the scaling of intrinsic contractile properties of the muscles that power feeding. However, functional insight into scaling relationships is fundamental to our understanding of the ecology, performance and evolution of animals. In this study, in vitro contractile properties of three feeding muscles were determined for a series of different sizes of African air-breathing catfishes (Clarias gariepinus). These muscles were the mouth closer musculus adductor mandibulae A2A3′, the mouth opener m. protractor hyoidei and the hypaxial muscles responsible for pectoral girdle retraction. Tetanus and twitch activation rise times increased significantly with size, while latency time was size independent. In accordance with the decrease in feeding velocity with increasing size, the cycle frequency for maximal power output of the protractor hyoidei and the adductor mandibulae showed a negative scaling relationship. Theoretical modelling predicts a scaling relationship for in vivo muscle function during which these muscles always produced at least 80% of their maximal in vitro power. These findings suggest that the contractile properties of these feeding muscles are fine-tuned to the changes in biomechanical constraints of movement of the feeding apparatus during ontogeny. However, each muscle appears to have a unique set of contractile properties. The hypaxials, the most important muscle for powering suction feeding in clariid catfish, differed from the other muscles by generating higher maximal stress and mass-specific power output with increased size,whilst the optimum cycle frequency for maximal power output only decreased significantly with size in the larger adults (cranial lengths greater than 60 mm).
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Affiliation(s)
- Sam Van Wassenbergh
- Department of Biology, Universiteit Antwerpen, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Antwerpen, Belgium.
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