ArticleCommunications biology2023
The impact of the land-to-sea transition on evolutionary integration and modularity of the pinniped backbone.
Article in Communications biology, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 7 citations in OpenAlex.
- Patterns of spinal motion, kinematic spaces and the land-to-sea transition in carnivorans.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- Broadening the semiaquatic scene: Quantification of long bone microanatomy across pinnipeds.Anatomical record (Hoboken, N.J. : 2007) · 2026Article
- Vertebral microstructure marks the emergence of pelagic ichthyosaurs soon after the End Permian Mass Extinction.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Small- to medium-sized mammals show greater morphological disparity in cervical than lumbar vertebrae across different terrestrial modes of locomotion.Ecology and evolution · 2024Article
- The influence of the land-to-sea macroevolutionary transition on vertebral column disparification in Pinnipedia.Proceedings. Biological sciences · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
In this study, we investigate how the terrestrial-aquatic transition influenced patterns of axial integration and modularity in response to the secondary adaptation to a marine lifestyle. We use 3D geometric morphometrics to quantify shape covariation among presacral vertebrae in pinnipeds (Carnivora; Pinnipedia) and to compare with patterns of axial integration and modularity in their close terrestrial relatives. Our results indicate that the vertebral column of pinnipeds has experienced a decrease in the strength of integration among all presacral vertebrae when compared to terrestrial carnivores (=fissipeds). However, separate integration analyses among the speciose Otariidae (i.e., sea lions and fur seals) and Phocidae (i.e., true seals) also suggests the presence of different axial organizations in these two groups of crown pinnipeds. While phocids present a set of integrated "thoracic" vertebrae, the presacral vertebrae of otariids are characterized by the absence of any set of vertebrae with high integration. We hypothesize that these differences could be linked to their specific modes of aquatic locomotion -i.e., pelvic vs pectoral oscillation. Our results provide evidence that the vertebral column of pinnipeds has been reorganized from the pattern observed in fissipeds but is more complex than a simple "homogenization" of the modular pattern of their close terrestrial relatives.
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