Meeting Abstract
Organisms comprise multiple interacting parts, and an increased number or specialization of those parts leads to greater complexity and the necessity for integration (the ability of those parts to perform together to maintain organism function). Although this idea is widely recognized among biologists, organisms are more tangibly studied when those parts are considered independently. This approach has successfully advanced our understanding of organism performance, but how performance of one system might (or might not) be dependent on performance of another system to achieve a relevant outcome is poorly understood. In other words, we are now poised to begin questioning the interaction among systems and the role of this integration in our understanding of sub-and supra-organismal processes. We synthesize the concepts of complexity and integration and discuss their application in a biomechanical context. Additionally, prey capture in predatory fishes is used as an example to highlight the application of these ideas. Using kinematics of sculpin (Scorpaeniformes: Cottidae) prey capture, we show that different species exhibit multivariate integration of performance in distinct ways, adding insight into potential ecological differences. Finally, we discuss new insights into organismal performance gained through study of integration as an emergent property of performance across systems. Integration is rarely the trait of interest, but we show that future work should adopt a holistic approach to understand why and how animals perform complex behaviors.
