FERRY-GRAHAM, L.A.*; WAINWRIGHT, P.C.: Using Functional Morphology to test General Ecological Theory

Even before Hutchinson defined what he coined the ‘fundamental niche’, researchers have been striving to understand what it is that makes species different, and what allows them to survive in the time and space that they do. Since that time, many theories have been advanced which encompass an array of ecological, evolutionary, mathematical, and simply logical principles. The goal has been to develop ecological theories that can, among other things, make specific and robust predictions about how and where organisms should live. An often underestimated or unexplored parameter of these models is the role of the organisms’ functional morphology. A more complete understanding of how the features of an organism’s anatomy work to allow the organism to accomplish certain tasks has allowed us to revisit some of these models from an enlightened perspective. We use kinematic studies of prey capture in several types of fishes as model systems to generate and test predictions related to diet specialization and breadth. These include, but are not necessarily limited to, predictions regarding why an organism might specialize, and the potential ecological and evolutionary consequences of specialization. We also consider several definitions of specialization and attempt to align these based upon shared ecological and evolutionary principles. We note that not all functional morphological systems are ideal for testing ecological models, as many ecological models depend on other levels of organismal design for predicting community patterns (i.e., behavior or sensory biology). We attempt to identify and define the characteristics of those certain functional morphological systems that make them useful for testing general ecological models and lead to robust predictions.