Meeting Abstract
Lateral undulation of the vertebral column is an important characteristic of sprawling postured tetrapods’ locomotion. The goal of this study was to determine the role of the lateral movement of the trunk vertebrae in terrestrial locomotion of tiger salamanders (Ambystoma tigrinum) by artificially limiting trunk flexibility by attaching a 2-piece “shell” around their trunk between the pectoral and pelvic girdles. Adult tiger salamanders (n =3) walked on a 1 m trackway under three different conditions: no shell, flexible shell (tygon tubing), and rigid shell (PVC tubing). Trials were filmed in a single, dorsal view using a Kodak Playsport camera (30 fps). Kinematic markers were located on the wrist, elbow, and shoulder joints of the forelimb. A custom-written MATLAB program was used to track the midline and the forelimb movements of the salamanders and analyze midline and kinematic variables. Average and maximum curvatures over the entire midline and trunk/tail regions were compared over multiple strides. We predict that average and maximum curvatures should decrease with the rigid shell and there should be no difference between no shell and the flexible shell. The average and maximum curvatures for the trunk region may be less than those of the tail region if tail movement increases to compensate for reduced trunk flexibility.
