Meeting Abstract S6-12  Sunday, Jan. 5 15:00 – 15:30  Final roundtable discussion on bioinspiration of silent flight CLARK, CJ; CLARK, Christopher; UC Riverside cclark@ucr.edu We conclude our symposium on bio-inspiration of silent flight of owls and other flying animals, by discussing open questions within this area, with an eye towards identifying areas of research that are not […]

Meeting Abstract S6-9  Sunday, Jan. 5 13:30 – 14:00  Evolutionary and ecological correlates of silent flight in owls, nightbirds and hawks: Does silent flight evolve for stealth, or to reduce self-masking? CLARK, CJ*; LE PIANE, K; CLARK, Christopher; University of California, Riverside CCLARK@UCR.EDU Owls, Nightbirds (nocturnal members of Caprimulgiformes) and certain hawks have all evolved feather features […]

Meeting Abstract S6-10  Sunday, Jan. 5 14:00 – 14:30   Directional sensitivity of Northern saw-whet owls: implications for prey and wing sound detection GALL, MD*; DE KONING, M; BEATINI, JR; PROUDFOOT, GA; Vassar College; Vassar College; Vassar College; Vassar College megall@vassar.edu http://pages.vassar.edu/sensoryecology/ Many animals localize sound sources using cues derived from sounds arriving at two ears that […]

Meeting Abstract S6-6  Sunday, Jan. 5 10:30 – 11:00  Acoustic models for wing specializations of silent owl species JAWORSKI, JW; Lehigh University, Bethlehem, PA jaworski@lehigh.edu Many owls species are known to be able to hunt in effective stealth to themselves and their prey, a feat which is attributed in full or in part to their wing specializations. […]

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 […]

KELLY, D. A.: The Functional Morphology of Penile Erection: Tissue Designs That Make the Floppy Stiff Functional morphology focuses on how biological structures work in the natural world; the specifics of how any structure works depends in part on both the mechanical properties of its materials and how those materials are arranged within the structure. […]

WALKER, J.A.: Swimming in air, flying under water: Physical constraints on the design of oscillating wings, fins, legs, and feet at intermediate Reynolds numbers Why do some animals swim by rowing appendages back and forth while others fly by flapping them up and down? One answer lies in the sharply divergent physical environments encountered by […]

FARMER, C.G.: Myocardial Oxygenation and the Evolution of the Vertebrate Cardiopulmonary System For many vertebrates, there are no other normal stresses to which the cardiopulmonary system is exposed that come close to the extreme stresses of heavy exercise. Hence it is expected that the demands of exercise have exerted strong selection pressures on the evolution […]

HERNANDEZ, L.P.: Functional morphology and developmental biology of zebrafish: Reciprocal illumination from an unlikely couple Developmental biology and functional morphology have not generally been considered fields across which a useful synergy could evolve. However, recent discoveries in vertebrate morphology have been due to adoption of techniques commonly used by developmental biologists. Furthermore, reciprocal contributions are […]

Gibb, A. C.; Dickson, K. A.: Functional morphology and biochemistry: Is there a correlation between metabolic enzyme activity and swimming performance? Many animals, including marine fishes, are difficult to study in their natural habitat. Consequently, little is known about their routine behavior and locomotor performance. Comparative physiologists and ecologists have searched for a specific morphological, […]