ArticleeLife2018
Strong biomechanical relationships bias the tempo and mode of morphological evolution.
Article in eLife, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed.
- Incompatibility between two major innovations shaped the diversification of fish feeding mechanisms.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- A classic key innovation constrains oral jaw functional diversification in fishes.Evolution letters · 2025Article
- Biomechanical Specialization Acts as an Asymmetrical Constraint on the Phenotype.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Optimal Gearing of Musculoskeletal Systems.Integrative and comparative biology · 2024Article
- Phenotypic covariation predicts diversification in an adaptive radiation of pupfishes.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- Article
- Four-bar Geometry is Shared among Ecologically DivergentFish Species.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2024Article
- Morphological evolution of bird wings follows a mechanical sensitivity gradient determined by the aerodynamics of flapping flight.Nature communications · 2023Article
- Wettability and morphology of proboscises interweave with hawkmoth evolutionary history.The Journal of experimental biology · 2023Article
- Modeling the Evolution of Rates of Continuous Trait Evolution.Systematic biology · 2023Article
- Shifts in morphological covariation and evolutionary rates across multiple acquisitions of the trap-jaw mechanism in Strumigenys.Evolution; international journal of organic evolution · 2022Article
- Increasing morphological disparity and decreasing optimality for jaw speed and strength during the radiation of jawed vertebrates.Science advances · 2022Article
- A Tunable, Simplified Model for Biological Latch Mediated Spring Actuated Systems.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2022Article
- The Effect of Thermally Robust Ballistic Mechanisms on Climatic Niche in Salamanders.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2022Article
- Exploring the sensitivity in jellyfish locomotion under variations in scale, frequency, and duty cycle.Journal of mathematical biology · 2021Article
- Functional innovation promotes diversification of form in the evolution of an ultrafast trap-jaw mechanism in ants.PLoS biology · 2021Article
- The Effect of Locomotion Mode on Body Shape Evolution in Teleost Fishes.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2021Article
- Ecomorphological divergence and habitat lability in the context of robust patterns of modularity in the cichlid feeding apparatus.BMC evolutionary biology · 2020Article
- The Evolutionary Dynamics of Mechanically Complex Systems.Integrative and comparative biology · 2019Article
- Pleiotropic jaw morphology links the evolution of mechanical modularity and functional feeding convergence in Lake Malawi cichlids.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
Abstract
The influence of biomechanics on the tempo and mode of morphological evolution is unresolved, yet is fundamental to organismal diversification. Across multiple four-bar linkage systems in animals, we discovered that rapid morphological evolution (tempo) is associated with mechanical sensitivity (strong correlation between a mechanical system's output and one or more of its components). Mechanical sensitivity is explained by size: the smallest link(s) are disproportionately affected by length changes and most strongly influence mechanical output. Rate of evolutionary change (tempo) is greatest in the smallest links and trait shifts across phylogeny (mode) occur exclusively via the influential, small links. Our findings illuminate the paradigms of many-to-one mapping, mechanical sensitivity, and constraints: tempo and mode are dominated by strong correlations that exemplify mechanical sensitivity, even in linkage systems known for exhibiting many-to-one mapping. Amidst myriad influences, mechanical sensitivity imparts distinct, predictable footprints on morphological diversity.
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