Meeting Abstract

112.3  Monday, Jan. 7  Many-to-many mapping of phenotype on function, and the F-array BERGMANN, P.J.*; MCELROY, E.J.; Clark University; College of Charleston pbergmann@clarku.edu

Relationships between phenotype and function are often complex, involving trade-offs, facilitations, redundancies, and traits that influence only one aspect of function. In systems with multiple phenotypic parts and multiple functional capacities, phenotype-function relationships are frequently very complex. For example, trade-offs, facilitations, redundancies, and unique relationships can interact with one another, influencing the rate of evolution of the various phenotypic and functional traits, and creating “functional lines of least resistance” to evolution. Although it is well known that trade-offs limit the rate of functional and phenotypic evolution, and it has been shown that redundancy can ameliorate these trade-offs, we find that facilitations and unique phenotype-function relationships also play roles in ameliorating trade-offs, sometimes more effectively than redundancy. We term the complex relationships between multiple aspects of phenotype and multiple aspects of function many-to-many mapping. We apply the F-matrix approach for relating basic limb morphology to locomotor performance in a series of Phrynosomatine lizards to illustrate this concept. We also make suggestions for dealing with the problem of multicollinearity in functional morphology datasets, and for placing the F-matrix approach in a comparative context.