eprintid: 10134534
rev_number: 14
eprint_status: archive
userid: 608
dir: disk0/10/13/45/34
datestamp: 2021-09-16 11:48:01
lastmod: 2021-09-17 22:27:30
status_changed: 2021-09-16 11:48:01
type: article
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Schwarz, D
creators_name: Konow, N
creators_name: Porro, LB
creators_name: Heiss, E
title: Ontogenetic plasticity in cranial morphology is associated with a change in the food processing behavior in Alpine newts
ispublished: pub
divisions: UCL
divisions: B02
divisions: C08
divisions: D09
divisions: F96
keywords: Science & Technology, Life Sciences & Biomedicine, Zoology, Salamander, Kinematics, Micro-CT, Functional morphology, Feeding apparatus, Ontogeny, Chewing, Intraoral food processing, Feeding, Flexibility, ICHTHYOSAURA-ALPESTRIS, AMBYSTOMA-TIGRINUM, FEEDING-BEHAVIOR, SALAMANDRA-SALAMANDRA, FUNCTIONAL DESIGN, TONGUE PROJECTION, TIGER SALAMANDER, MUSCLE FUNCTION, PREY TRANSPORT, EASTERN NEWT
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abstract: Background
The feeding apparatus of salamanders consists mainly of the cranium, mandible, teeth, hyobranchial apparatus and the muscles of the cranial region. The morphology of the feeding apparatus in turn determines the boundary conditions for possible food processing (i.e., intraoral mechanical reduction) mechanisms. However, the morphology of the feeding apparatus changes substantially during metamorphosis, prompting the hypothesis that larvae might use a different food processing mechanism than post-metamorphic adults. Salamandrid newts with facultative metamorphosis are suitable for testing this hypothesis as adults with divergent feeding apparatus morphologies often coexist in the same population, share similar body sizes, and feed on overlapping prey spectra.

Methods
We use high-speed videography to quantify the in vivo movements of key anatomical elements during food processing in paedomorphic and metamorphic Alpine newts (Ichthyosaura alpestris). Additionally, we use micro-computed tomography (μCT) to analyze morphological differences in the feeding apparatus of paedomorphic and metamorphic Alpine newts and sort them into late-larval, mid-metamorphic and post-metamorphic morphotypes.

Results
Late-larval, mid-metamorphic and post-metamorphic individuals exhibited clear morphological differences in their feeding apparatus. Regardless of the paedomorphic state being externally evident, paedomorphic specimens can conceal different morphotypes (i.e., late-larval and mid-metamorphic morphotypes). Though feeding on the same prey under the same (aquatic) condition, food processing kinematics differed between late-larval, mid-metamorphic and post-metamorphic morphotypes.

Conclusions
The food processing mechanism in the Alpine newt changes along with morphology of the feeding apparatus during ontogeny, from a mandible-based to a tongue-based processing mechanism as the changing morphology of the mandible prevents chewing and the tongue allows enhanced protraction. These results could indicate that early tetrapods, in analogy to salamanders, may have developed new feeding mechanisms in their aquatic environment and that these functional innovations may have later paved the way for terrestrial feeding mechanisms.
date: 2020-11-16
date_type: published
publisher: BMC
official_url: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-020-00373-x
oa_status: green
full_text_type: pub
language: eng
primo: open
primo_central: open_green
verified: verified_manual
elements_id: 1830756
doi: 10.1186/s12983-020-00373-x
lyricists_name: Porro, Laura
lyricists_id: LBPOR42
actors_name: Sharp, Catherine
actors_id: CLSHA04
actors_role: owner
full_text_status: public
publication: Frontiers in Zoology
volume: 17
number: 1
article_number: 34
pages: 16
citation:        Schwarz, D;    Konow, N;    Porro, LB;    Heiss, E;      (2020)    Ontogenetic plasticity in cranial morphology is associated with a change in the food processing behavior in Alpine newts.                   Frontiers in Zoology , 17  (1)    , Article 34.  10.1186/s12983-020-00373-x <https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-020-00373-x>.       Green open access   
 
document_url: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10134534/1/s12983-020-00373-x.pdf