Meeting Abstract
Two defining traits of Kingdom Animalia are the ability to move and the need to consume food. However, many animals use whole-body movements to close the distance to prey while the jaws and mouth are used for capture and these traits may be integrated at the organismal level. This functional dependency can have negative consequences for adapting to a changing environment on both immediate and evolutionary timescales. However, despite the potential diversity of taxa, relationships between locomotor and feeding traits have been relatively unexplored. Vertebrates represent an important subset of taxa that can be used to develop common themes in our understanding of how animals rely on integrated functions. Suction-feeding fishes repeatedly coordinate approach speed with mouth movements within individuals, between populations, and across diversification events. However, whether this same pattern of coordination is common among other vertebrates is unknown. We use three case studies to examine functional integration at broader scales: 1) We compare suction and biting prey capture behaviors in guppies (Poecilia reticulata) to determine the effects of feeding mode on integration. 2) We analyze preliminary data from a mudskipper (Periophthalmus barbarus) feeding above and below water to determine the effects of the media on integration. 3) We re-analyze published prey capture data from cetaceans to determine the effects of major evolutionary transitions on integration. Together, these analyses provide new insights into how functional systems are integrated, as well as the adaptability of integration given significant evolutionary changes in one or more underlying functional systems.
