The evolution of the early tetrapod feeding apparatus
Evolutionary Cell and Developmental Biology (Zoology)
Palaeontology
Final Report Abstract
The research project aimed to investigate the evolutionary development of the feeding apparatus in early tetrapods, the first vertebrates to transition from water to land. This shift was one of the most significant events in vertebrate history due to vastly different physical conditions of terrestrial and aquatic environments that posed disparate requirements to the inhabiting life. A key focus of the study was on food processing in the oral cavity, which is essential for digestion and, consequently, for the survival and fitness of an individual. Salamanders were chosen as model organisms because they experience aquatic and terrestrial phases during their life cycle, providing a relevant comparison to early tetrapods. The project aimed to use fossils and recent species to reconstruct the evolution and function of tetrapod feeding apparatuses and to understand the development of various feeding behaviours. These findings would help illuminate evolutionary adaptations to changing environments and provide new insights into the biological diversity and adaptation processes of vertebrates.
Publications
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Rhythmic chew cycles with distinct fast and slow phases are ancestral to gnathostomes. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1891).
Richard, Brian A.; Spence, Meghan; Rull-Garza, Mateo; Roba, Yonas Tolosa; Schwarz, Daniel; Ramsay, Jason B.; Laurence-Chasen, J. D.; Ross, Callum F. & Konow, Nicolai
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Using salamanders as model taxa to understand vertebrate feeding constraints during the late Devonian water-to-land transition. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1891).
Schwarz, Daniel; Heiss, Egon; Pierson, Todd W.; Konow, Nicolai & Schoch, Rainer R.
