Lawler Richard R
Department of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2008 Jun;136(2):204-13. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.20795.
Morphological integration manifests as strong phenotypic covariation among interacting traits. In this study, a graph-theory approach is used to analyze patterns of morphological integration in a wild population of Verreaux's sifaka (Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi). The motivation for this study is to determine the relative roles of development versus function in shaping patterns of morphological integration in the sifaka postcranium. A developmental and a functional hypothesis of integration are compared with the observed pattern of integration and the fit of these hypotheses is assessed using information theoretic statistics. Correlational selection is also estimated on limb elements. Information theoretic statistics indicate that the developmental hypothesis fits the observed pattern of integration slightly better than the functional hypothesis. Only two pairs of traits experience correlational selection but neither of the traits within each pair are morphologically integrated. The observed pattern of integration contains several trait-trait associations that are specified by both the functional and developmental hypotheses. These results likely reflect the nested covariation structure in which a novel locomotor mode, vertical clinging and leaping, is derived from a primitive quadrupedal morphotype.
形态整合表现为相互作用的性状之间强烈的表型协变。在本研究中，一种图论方法被用于分析维氏冕狐猴（Propithecus verreauxi verreauxi）野生种群中的形态整合模式。本研究的动机是确定发育与功能在塑造冕狐猴后肢骨骼形态整合模式中的相对作用。将一个发育整合假说和一个功能整合假说与观察到的整合模式进行比较，并使用信息论统计评估这些假说的拟合度。还对肢体元素进行了相关选择估计。信息论统计表明，发育假说比功能假说对观察到的整合模式拟合得稍好一些。只有两对性状经历了相关选择，但每对性状中的任何一个性状在形态上都没有整合。观察到的整合模式包含几个功能假说和发育假说都能解释的性状-性状关联。这些结果可能反映了嵌套协变结构，其中一种新的运动模式，即垂直攀附和跳跃，是从原始的四足形态类型衍生而来的。
