Meeting Abstract
Mechanical relationships shape how organisms can move, feed, and reproduce, thus impacting all aspects of evolutionary fitness. But, can mechanical relationships be used to predict macroevolutionary patterns of morphological diversity? And, how correlated is form-function evolution among different parts of the body? First, I describe previous work connecting mechanical sensitivity, many-to-one mapping, and rates of morphological evolution in various four-bar linkage systems. Then, zooming in on wrasses (Family: Labridae), I describe whether and how feeding and locomotor traits evolve in a correlated or uncorrelated fashion across the labrid tree. The field of evolutionary biomechanics has a rich conceptual history, but remained relatively data limited (particularly with regards to phylogeny) for decades. Now, more than ever, we are uniquely poised to rigorously and quantitatively link biomechanics, ecology, and phylogenetics in a synthetic framework, and derive clear, directional predictions in form-function evolution.
