ArticleBMC biology2021
Differing effects of size and lifestyle on bone structure in mammals.
Article in BMC biology, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- A Beginner's Guide for Using Bone in Marine Mammal Research.Integrative and comparative biology · 2026Guideline
- Frequency of arboreality is correlated with longer hand skeletons in Gorilla: Analysis of a new skeletal sample of Bwindi mountain gorillas.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Broadening the semiaquatic scene: Quantification of long bone microanatomy across pinnipeds.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
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- Morphology and osteo-histology of the weigeltisaurid wing: Implications for aerial locomotion in the world's first gliding reptiles.Journal of anatomy · 2026Article
- Microanatomy of Dermal Roofing Bones in the Skull of Pipoid Frogs.Journal of morphology · 2025Article
- The Carnivoran Adaptive Landscape Reveals Trade-offs among Functional Traits in the Skull, Appendicular, and Axial Skeleton.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2025Article
- Choose your mother wisely: the familial resemblance of bone adaptation.Osteoporosis international : a journal established as result of cooperation between the European Foundation for Osteoporosis and the National Osteoporosis Foundation of the USA · 2025Article
- Review
- Small skeletons show size-specific scaling: an exploration of allometry in the mammalian lumbar spine.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
- Article
- A macroevolutionary common-garden experiment reveals differentially evolvable bone organization levels in slow arboreal mammals.Communications biology · 2023Article
- Article
- From Fairies to Giants: Untangling the Effect of Body Size, Phylogeny, and Ecology on Vertebral Bone Microstructure of Xenarthran Mammals.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Size And Locomotor Ecology Have Differing Effects on the External and Internal Morphologies of Squirrel (Rodentia: Sciuridae) Limb Bones.Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2023Article
- Unique bone microanatomy reveals ancestry of subterranean specializations in mammals.Evolution letters · 2022Article
- Subaqueous foraging among carnivorous dinosaurs.Nature · 2022Article
- Computational Modeling of Gluteus Medius Muscle Moment Arm in Caviomorph Rodents Reveals Ecomorphological Specializations.Frontiers in bioengineering and biotechnology · 2022Article
- A Shrewd Inspection of Vertebral Regionalization in Large Shrews (Soricidae: Crocidurinae).Integrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2022Article
- Differing effects of size and lifestyle on bone structure in mammals.BMC biology · 2021Article
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2 authors.
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Abstract
backgroundMammals are a highly diverse group, with body mass ranging from 2 g to 170 t, and encompassing species with terrestrial, aquatic, aerial, and subterranean lifestyles. The skeleton is involved in most aspects of vertebrate life history, but while previous macroevolutionary analyses have shown that structural, phylogenetic, and functional factors influence the gross morphology of skeletal elements, their inner structure has received comparatively little attention. Here we analysed bone structure of the humerus and mid-lumbar vertebrae across mammals and their correlations with different lifestyles and body size.
resultsWe acquired bone structure parameters in appendicular and axial elements (humerus and mid-lumbar vertebra) from 190 species across therian mammals (placentals + marsupials). Our sample captures all transitions to aerial, fully aquatic, and subterranean lifestyles in extant therian clades. We found that mammalian bone structure is highly disparate and we show that the investigated vertebral structure parameters mostly correlate with body size, but not lifestyle, while the opposite is true for humeral parameters. The latter also show a high degree of convergence among the clades that have acquired specialised (non-terrestrial) lifestyles.
conclusionsIn light of phylogenetic, size, and functional factors, the distribution of each investigated structural parameter reveals patterns explaining the construction of appendicular and axial skeletal elements in mammalian species spanning most of the extant diversity of the clade in terms of body size and lifestyle. These patterns should be further investigated with analyses focused on specific lifestyle transitions that would ideally include key fossils.
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