2,253 research outputs found
Adaptive plasticity in the mouse mandible
BACKGROUND: Plasticity, i.e. non-heritable morphological variation, enables organisms to modify the shape of their skeletal tissues in response to varying environmental stimuli. Plastic variation may also allow individuals to survive in the face of new environmental conditions, enabling the evolution of heritable adaptive traits. However, it is uncertain whether such a plastic response of morphology constitutes an evolutionary adaption itself. Here we investigate whether shape differences due to plastic bone remodelling have functionally advantageous biomechanical consequences in mouse mandibles. Shape characteristics of mandibles from two groups of inbred laboratory mice fed either rodent pellets or ground pellets mixed with jelly were assessed using geometric morphometrics and mechanical advantage measurements of jaw adductor musculature. RESULTS: Mandibles raised on diets with differing food consistency showed significant differences in shape, which in turn altered their biomechanical profile. Mice raised on a soft food diet show a reduction in mechanical advantage relative to mice of the same inbred strain raised on a typical hard food diet. Further, the soft food eaters showed lower levels of integration between jaw regions, particularly between the molar and angular region relative to hard food eaters. CONCLUSIONS: Bone remodelling in mouse mandibles allows for significant shifts in biomechanical ability. Food consistency significantly influences this process in an adaptive direction, as mice raised on hard food develop jaws better suited to handle hard foods. This remodelling also affects the organisation of the mandible, as mice raised on soft food appear to be released from developmental constraints showing less overall integration than those raised on hard foods, but with a shift of integration towards the most solicited regions of the mandible facing such a food, namely the incisors. Our results illustrate how environmentally driven plasticity can lead to adaptive functional changes that increase biomechanical efficiency of food processing in the face of an increased solicitation. In contrast, decreased demand in terms of food processing seems to release developmental interactions between jaw parts involved in mastication, and may generate new patterns of co-variation, possibly opening new directions to subsequent selection. Overall, our results emphasize that mandible shape and integration evolved as parts of a complex system including mechanical loading food resource utilization and possibly foraging behaviour
Anderson et al. Reply (to the Comment by Murphy on Pioneer 10/11)
We conclude that Murphy's proposal (radiation of the power of the main-bus
electrical systems from the rear of the craft) can not explain the anomalous
Pioneer acceleration.Comment: LaTex, 3 pages, Phys. Rev. Lett. (to be published
Anderson et al. Reply (to the Comment by Katz on Pioneer 10/11)
We conclude that Katz's proposal (anisotropic heat reflection off of the back
of the spacecraft high-gain antennae, the heat coming from the RTGs) does not
provide enough power and so can not explain the Pioneer anomaly.Comment: LaTex, 3 pages, Phys. Rev. Lett. (to be published
The Apparent Anomalous, Weak, Long-Range Acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11
Recently we reported that radio Doppler data generated by NASA's Deep Space
Network (DSN) from the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft indicate an apparent
anomalous, constant, spacecraft acceleration with a magnitude cm s, directed towards the Sun (gr-qc/9808081). Analysis of
similar Doppler and ranging data from the Galileo and Ulysses spacecraft
yielded ambiguous results for the anomalous acceleration, but it was useful in
that it ruled out the possibility of a systematic error in the DSN Doppler
system that could easily have been mistaken as a spacecraft acceleration. Here
we present some new results, including a critique suggestions that the
anomalous acceleration could be caused by collimated thermal emission. Based
partially on a further data for the Pioneer 10 orbit determination, the data
now spans January 1987 to July 1998, our best estimate of the average Pioneer
10 acceleration directed towards the Sun is cm
s.Comment: Latex, 7 pages and 2 figures. Invited talk at the XXXIV-th Rencontres
de Moriond Meeting on Gravitational Waves and Experimental Gravity. Les Arcs,
Savoi, France (January 23-30,1999). Corrected typo
On the magnetic structure of the solar transition region
We examine the hypothesis that ``cool loops'' dominate emission from solar
transition region plasma below temperatures of K. We compare
published VAULT images of H L, a lower transition region line, with
near-contemporaneous magnetograms from Kitt Peak, obtained during the second
flight (VAULT-2) on 14 June 2002. The measured surface fields and potential
extrapolations suggest that there are too few short loops, and that L
emission is associated with the base regions of longer, coronal loops. VAULT-2
data of network boundaries have an asymmetry on scales larger than
supergranules, also indicating an association with long loops. We complement
the Kitt Peak data with very sensitive vector polarimetric data from the
Spectro-Polarimeter on board Hinode, to determine the influence of very small
magnetic concentrations on our analysis. From these data two classes of
behavior are found: within the cores of strong magnetic flux concentrations ( Mx) associated with active network and plage, small-scale mixed
fields are absent and any short loops can connect just the peripheries of the
flux to cell interiors. Core fields return to the surface via longer, most
likely coronal, loops. In weaker concentrations, short loops can connect
between concentrations and produce mixed fields within network boundaries as
suggested by Dowdy and colleagues. The VAULT-2 data which we examined are
associated with strong concentrations. We conclude that the cool loop model
applies only to a small fraction of the VAULT-2 emission, but we cannot
discount a significant role for cool loops in quieter regions. We suggest a
physical picture for how network L emission may occur through the
cross-field diffusion of neutral atoms from chromospheric into coronal plasma.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 9 May 200
Indication, from Pioneer 10/11, Galileo, and Ulysses Data, of an Apparent Anomalous, Weak, Long-Range Acceleration
Radio metric data from the Pioneer 10/11, Galileo, and Ulysses spacecraft
indicate an apparent anomalous, constant, acceleration acting on the spacecraft
with a magnitude cm/s, directed towards the Sun.
Two independent codes and physical strategies have been used to analyze the
data. A number of potential causes have been ruled out. We discuss future
kinematic tests and possible origins of the signal.Comment: Revtex, 4 pages and 1 figure. Minor changes for publicatio
Ecological opportunity and the rise and fall of crocodylomorph evolutionary innovation
Understanding the origin, expansion and loss of biodiversity is fundamental to evolutionary biology. The approximately 26 living species of crocodylomorphs (crocodiles, caimans, alligators and gharials) represent just a snapshot of the group's rich 230-million-year history, whereas the fossil record reveals a hidden past of great diversity and innovation, including ocean and land-dwelling forms, herbivores, omnivores and apex predators. In this macroevolutionary study of skull and jaw shape disparity, we show that crocodylomorph ecomorphological variation peaked in the Cretaceous, before declining in the Cenozoic, and the rise and fall of disparity was associated with great heterogeneity in evolutionary rates. Taxonomically diverse and ecologically divergent Mesozoic crocodylomorphs, like marine thalattosuchians and terrestrial notosuchians, rapidly evolved novel skull and jaw morphologies to fill specialized adaptive zones. Disparity in semi-aquatic predatory crocodylians, the only living crocodylomorph representatives, accumulated steadily, and they evolved more slowly for most of the last 80 million years, but despite their conservatism there is no evidence for long-term evolutionary stagnation. These complex evolutionary dynamics reflect ecological opportunities, that were readily exploited by some Mesozoic crocodylomorphs but more limited in Cenozoic crocodylians.Sampling. We sample 240 crocodylomorph skulls and 204 lower jaws
Shape analyses. Disparity was quantified using 2-D geometric morphometrics, with a mixed landmark/semi-landmarks approach.
Phylogeny. A composite crocodylomorph supertree was assembled .
Disparity. Disparity was quantified using custom code and the R package dispRity.
Evolutionary rates. Rates of evolution were analysed in a Bayesian framework based on the multivariate variable-rates model in BayesTraits
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