Meeting Abstract
Ecomorphology is “the study of the relationship between the functional design of organisms and the environment” (Wainwright, 1991). Ecomorphological approaches are becoming increasingly common, finding applications spanning macroevolution to wildlife conservation. Ecomorphology is inherently interdisciplinary: the choice and interpretation of morphometric data as descriptors of functional performance is informed by biomechanics, ecology, and behavior. In most cases, ecomorphological studies only draw on a subset of these disciplines. As a result, ecomorphological studies make a number of implicit assumptions that, while rendering their results no less valid or valuable, need to be considered when ecomorphology is used to ask evolutionary and ecological questions, or when it is relied upon to guide conservation or management policy. Central among these is the assumption of correlation between measured morphological traits and ecological performance. The validity of any conclusions derived ecomorphological studies depend on the assumptions made, explicit or implicit, when selecting morphological variables and the methods to analyze them. We will discuss different methodological and conceptual approaches taken by ecomorphological studies, and the implicit assumptions of each approach. Then, we will discuss various practices that can help support or eliminate some of the assumptions of ecomorphological studies. Ultimately, we attempt to foster a better understanding of the strengths and caveats of ecomorphological approaches in ecological, evolutionary and conservation studies, and suggest practices that may strengthen their results.
