SYMPOSIUM: "Motor Control of Vertebrate Feeding: Functional and Evolutionary Perspectives", Chicago, IL, Jan 3-7, 2001

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Vertebrates feed in a diversity of ways, from the large, sucking mouths of many fishes to sticky, projectile tongues of some lizards and salamanders, to the powerful, tearing jaws and teeth of large cats. Although biologists have long recognized the bones and muscles of the skull have undergone significant evolution as feeding strategies have diversified in different vertebrate groups, work over the last 20 years has suggested that the neural circuitry responsible for controlling feeding behavior may be relatively inflexible over evolutionary time. Some workers have suggested that the complexity of neural circuits makes them resistant to evolutionary change. Innovations in feeding behavior are thus thought to be accomplished by changes in muscle and/or bone shape and not changes in the "hard-wiring" or neural control of the muscles themselves.The goals of this symposium are to evaluate these ideas about neural circuit conservatism by examining feeding patterns across vertebrates. Biologists from around the world working on fishes, sharks, frogs, turtles, lizards, mammals, and birds, will come together to discuss the patterns of skull and jaw movement and motor control evident in each of these groups. By identifying trends within each of these major groups and synthesizing patterns apparent across them, workers will refine current models of vertebrate feeding and explore new and potentially fruitful avenues of research for the future.