10.5061/DRYAD.DT6H8T0
Law, Chris J.
University of California System
Duran, Emma
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Hung, Nancy
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Richards, Ekai
University of California, Santa Cruz
Santillan, Isaac
University of California, Santa Cruz
Mehta, Rita S.
University of California, Santa Cruz
Data from: Effects of diet on cranial morphology and biting ability in
musteloid mammals
Dryad
dataset
2018
cranial ecomorphology
Carnivora
bite force
dry skull method
National Science Foundation
https://ror.org/021nxhr62
DEB-1700989
2018-09-27T12:57:52Z
2018-09-27T12:57:52Z
en
https://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.13385
343772 bytes
1
CC0 1.0 Universal (CC0 1.0) Public Domain Dedication
Size and shape are often considered important variables that lead to
variation in performance. In studies of feeding, size‐corrected metrics of
the skull are often used as proxies of biting performance; however, few
studies have examined the relationship between cranial shape in its
entirety and estimated bite force across species and how dietary ecologies
may affect these variables differently. Here, we used geometric
morphometric and phylogenetic comparative approaches to examine
relationships between cranial morphology and estimated bite force in the
carnivoran clade Musteloidea. We found a strong relationship between
cranial size and estimated bite force but did not find a significant
relationship between cranial shape and size‐corrected estimated bite
force. Many‐to‐one mapping of form to function may explain this pattern
because a variety of evolutionary shape changes rather than a single shape
change may have contributed to an increase in relative biting ability. We
also found that dietary ecologies influenced cranial shape evolution but
did not influence cranial size nor size‐corrected bite force evolution.
Although musteloids with different diets exhibit variation in cranial
shapes, they have similar estimated bite forces suggesting that other
feeding performance metrics and potentially nonfeeding traits are also
important contributors to cranial evolution. We postulate that axial and
appendicular adaptations and the interesting feeding behaviours reported
for species within this group also facilitate different dietary ecologies
between species. Future work integrating cranial, axial and appendicular
form and function with behavioural observations will reveal further
insights into the evolution of dietary ecologies and other ecological
variables.
DataSpecies means of bite force, cranial size, and Procrustes
coordinatesdryad_data.csv