Meeting Abstract
Cypriniform feeding morphology is characterized by three novel adaptations: kinethmoid‐mediated premaxillary protrusion, the palatal organ, and mastication via occlusion of lower pharyngeal jaws against a chewing pad supported by the basioccipital. These three morphological solutions to the intake, discrimination, and processing of food by the trophic apparatus constrain each other inasmuch as they address sequential tasks that cumulatively manipulate a shared work product through a shared workspace within a continuity of function. Diverse morphological solutions in each of these three elements of the trophic apparatus across Cypriniformes provide a biological model with which we can investigate the evolution of complex systems. We present the results of a simulation study evaluating network analytic methods for the detection of modularity within a similar system. First we visualize morphological data from each element as a correlation matrix circumscribing the entire trophic apparatus. This matrix can be interpreted as a weighted adjacency matrix from which we extract a network topology. Community structure within the network topology is detected via analogy to an infinite range Potts spin-glass. We discuss the extent to which community structure can be interpreted as evidence of morphological integration and modularity, with particular attention to initial misspecification of the module. Abstraction of a biological model to a network representation allows us to use powerful analytic tools to interrogate the system.
