Mechanosensation is evolutionarily tuned to locomotor mechanics
Abstract
This paper provides an analysis of the correlated evolution of limb biomechanics and mechanosensation. We found that in multiple independent evolutions of stiff fins there was concurrent evolution of increased mechanosensory afferent sensitivity to low amplitude bends, compared with the nerve responses of more flexible fins. These results indicate that sensory systems are tuned to fin mechanical properties, revealing that limb mechanics and the limb’s associated mechanosensory system are a new and important axis of structural and functional variation in locomotor systems. Further, we find high levels of parallelism between swimming behavior, fin shape, mechanics, and mechanosensation across a rich phylogeny of fishes, suggesting that neuromechanical tuning may be a general feature of evolution in neuromechanical systems.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Apr 10, 2017
- Source ID
- 10.1073/pnas.1616839114
Entities
People
- Brett R Aiello
- Mark W. Westneat
- Melina Elisabeth Hale
Organizations
- Division of Environmental Biology
- Division of Graduate Education
- Division of Integrative Organismal Systems
- Field Museum of Natural History
- Office of Naval Research
- University of Chicago