Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
Volume 288, Issue 1946, Pages -Publisher
ROYAL SOC
DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2020.3150
Keywords
axial skeleton; cervical column; evolution; Aves; ecological variation
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Funding
- Adapting to the Challenges of a Changing Environment (ACCE) NERC doctoral training partnership [NE/S00713X/1]
- European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program 2014-2018 (European Research Council [ERC] Starting Grant: TEMPO) [677774]
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Bird necks exhibit unparalleled levels of morphological diversity, influenced by ecologically driven osteological variation, while maintaining a highly conserved regional modularity in overall structure. Unlike mammals, neck length in birds scales isometrically with head mass, and neck elongation is achieved predominantly through increasing vertebral lengths rather than counts.
Bird necks display unparalleled levels of morphological diversity compared to other vertebrates, yet it is unclear what factors have structured this variation. Using three-dimensional geometric morphometrics and multivariate statistics, we show that the avian cervical column is a hierarchical morpho-functional appendage, with varying magnitudes of ecologically driven osteological variation at different scales of organization. Contrary to expectations given the widely varying ecological functions of necks in different species, we find that regional modularity of the avian neck is highly conserved, with an overall structural blueprint that is significantly altered only by the most mechanically demanding ecological functions. Nevertheless, the morphologies of vertebrae within subregions of the neck show more prominent signals of adaptation to ecological pressures. We also find that both neck length allometry and the nature of neck elongation in birds are different from other vertebrates. In contrast with mammals, neck length scales isometrically with head mass and, contrary to previous work, we show that neck elongation in birds is achieved predominantly by increasing vertebral lengths rather than counts. Birds therefore possess a cervical spine that may be unique in its versatility among extant vertebrates, one that, since the origin of flight, has adapted to function as a surrogate forelimb in varied ecological niches.
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