Promoter: Jamie A. MacLaren
Co-promoter: Sam Van Wassenbergh
Subject: The range-of-motion of animal limb joints dictates (to a large extent) how it can walk, run, or swim. For animals which spend time both on land and in water (semi-aquatic), the range-of-motion (or ROM) of their limb joints is especially important, as the limb joints need to be able to rotate to allow for terrestrial walking, running, or standing, while also being able to facilitate swimming (or bottom-walking). Finding the ROM of joints in modern animals which have convergently undergone behavioural, physiological, or anatomical adaptations to fulfil specific aquatic/terrestrial locomotor needs can provide revealing insights into the nature of form and function of diverse mammal clades under similar selective pressures.
Among herbivorous mammals, several species have become adapted to a semi-aquatic lifestyle, e.g. hippos, tapirs, capybara. In this study, the ROM of the forelimb joints of these phylogenetically diverse taxa will be investigated in order to investigate the biomechanical capabilities (and potential convergences) in the forelimb of semi-aquatic herbivorous mammals.
In this project, the student will: (1) become familiar with the anatomy of the ungulate and rodent forelimb; (2) conduct supervised visits to museum collections and 3D scan forelimb elements of the study species; (3) perform 3D ROM experiments in free software for a range of modern semi-aquatic herbivorous mammal species, in addition to their closest living relatives; (4) assess how ROM varies across these species compared to fully terrestrial relatives, investigating convergences in function across semi-aquatic herbivorous mammals.
Student: the successful student must have an interest in evolution and the relationship between form and function; familiarity with mammalian biology would be beneficial, but not essential. Guidance in all methods will be provided – no prior knowledge is required. Familiarity with the R statistical environment and multivariate statistics will be beneficial, but not essential. It is hoped that the successful student will be both willing and eager to assist in (supervised) dissections and to travel to local museum collections (at potentially short notice).