Physiological Mechanisms of Prey Capture in Lower Vertebrates

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The overall goal of this proposal is to investigate the extent to which patterns of muscle function in animals can be modified. Key general questions addressed by this research include the following. (1) To what extent do patterns of muscle function change during development, and what causes the changes that are found to occur? (2) To what extent do patterns of muscle function differ among both closely related and distantly related species of animals? (3) How dependent are patterns of muscle function on the environment that animals are found in? These questions will be studied using quantitative techniques to measure muscle function and statistically test for differences among species, among developmental stages, and among experimental treatments. The skull musculature in salamanders and turtles is used as an experimental system to investigate these questions. These organisms were chosen because they allow comparisons of muscle function in different environments and muscle function can be studied throughout development. This research will contribute to our understanding of he biomechanics of muscle work in vertebrates the physiology of complex movement sequences and the evolution of feeding behavior in lower vertebrates.