Bite forces and evolutionary adaptations to feeding ecology in carnivores
Bite forces and evolutionary adaptations to feeding ecology in carnivores
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DOI：
10.1890/0012-9658(2007)88
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发表时间：
2007-02-01
期刊：
影响因子：
4.8
通讯作者：
Wroe, Stephen
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Christiansen, Per;Wroe, Stephen
食肉目跨越了所有哺乳动物目中最大的生态和体型多样性，使其成为进化生态学和功能形态学研究的理想基础。对于具有不同摄食生态的动物，咬合力可能是一种重要的进化适应，但由于缺乏咬合力数据，研究受到限制。在这项研究中，我们提出了预测的咬合力为151种现存的食肉动物，包括代表所有8个家庭和整个规模和生态范围内的命令。我们发现，当身体大小归一化，咬合力显着不同的各种喂养类别。在相反的极端和独立的系谱，消费者的坚韧的纤维植物材料和食肉动物捕食大型猎物都有高咬合力的大小，而咬合力调整体重是低的专门食虫动物。杂食动物和食肉动物捕食小猎物有更温和的咬合力为他们的大小。这些研究结果表明，咬力的差异代表了重要的适应和指标不同的喂养生态在整个食肉动物的进化。我们的研究结果表明，结合咬合力数据可能有助于构建更强大的进化和古生物学分析的摄食生态。
The Carnivora spans the largest ecological and body size diversity of any mammalian order, making it an ideal basis for studies of evolutionary ecology and functional morphology. For animals with different feeding ecologies, it may be expected that bite force represents an important evolutionary adaptation, but studies have been constrained by a lack of bite force data. In this study we present predictions of bite forces for 151 species of extant carnivores, comprising representatives from all eight families and the entire size and ecological spectrum within the order. We show that, when normalized for body size, bite forces differ significantly between the various feeding categories. At opposing extremes and independent of genealogy, consumers of tough fibrous plant material and carnivores preying on large prey both have high bite forces for their size, while bite force adjusted for body mass is low among specialized insectivores. Omnivores and carnivores preying on small prey have more moderate bite forces for their size. These findings indicate that differences in bite force represent important adaptations to and indicators of differing feeding ecologies throughout carnivoran evolution. Our results suggest that the incorporation of bite force data may assist in the construction of more robust evolutionary and palaeontological analyses of feeding ecology.