AG Vergleichende Zoologie, Institut für Biologie, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Philippstr. 12/13, 10115, Berlin, Germany.
Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Bern, Bern, 3012, Switzerland.
BMC Ecol Evol. 2024 Feb 14;24(1):22. doi: 10.1186/s12862-023-02193-z.
Biological adaptation manifests itself at the interface of different biologically relevant 'levels', such as ecology, performance, and morphology. Integrated studies at this interface are scarce due to practical difficulties in study design. We present a multilevel analysis, in which we combine evidence from habitat utilization, leaping performance and limb bone morphology of four species of tamarins to elucidate correlations between these 'levels'.
We conducted studies of leaping behavior in the field and in a naturalistic park and found significant differences in support use and leaping performance. Leontocebus nigrifrons leaps primarily on vertical, inflexible supports, with vertical body postures, and covers greater leaping distances on average. In contrast, Saguinus midas and S. imperator use vertical and horizontal supports for leaping with a relatively similar frequency. S. mystax is similar to S. midas and S. imperator in the use of supports, but covers greater leaping distances on average, which are nevertheless shorter than those of L. nigrifrons. We assumed these differences to be reflected in the locomotor morphology, too, and compared various morphological features of the long bones of the limbs. According to our performance and habitat utilization data, we expected the long bone morphology of L. nigrifrons to reflect the largest potential for joint torque generation and stress resistance, because we assume longer leaps on vertical supports to exert larger forces on the bones. For S. mystax, based on our performance data, we expected the potential for torque generation to be intermediate between L. nigrifrons and the other two Saguinus species. Surprisingly, we found S. midas and S. imperator having relatively more robust morphological structures as well as relatively larger muscle in-levers, and thus appearing better adapted to the stresses involved in leaping than the other two.
This study demonstrates the complex ways in which behavioral and morphological 'levels' map onto each other, cautioning against oversimplification of ecological profiles when using large interspecific eco-morphological studies to make adaptive evolutionary inferences.
生物适应性表现在不同生物学相关“层面”的界面上，如生态学、表现和形态学。由于研究设计的实际困难，在这个界面上进行综合研究很少。我们提出了一种多层次分析，在这种分析中，我们结合了栖息地利用、跳跃性能和四肢骨骼形态的证据，来阐明这些“层面”之间的相关性。
我们在野外和自然公园进行了跳跃行为研究，发现了支撑使用和跳跃性能的显著差异。黑掌绢毛猴主要在垂直、不灵活的支撑物上跳跃，身体姿势垂直，并平均覆盖更大的跳跃距离。相比之下，白脸卷尾猴和皇柽柳猴使用垂直和水平支撑物跳跃的频率相对相似。白脸卷尾猴在使用支撑物方面与白脸卷尾猴和皇柽柳猴相似，但平均覆盖更大的跳跃距离，但仍短于黑掌绢毛猴。我们假设这些差异也反映在运动形态上，并比较了四肢长骨的各种形态特征。根据我们的性能和栖息地利用数据，我们预计黑掌绢毛猴的长骨形态将反映出最大的关节扭矩产生和抗应力潜力，因为我们假设在垂直支撑物上跳跃会对骨骼施加更大的力。对于白脸卷尾猴，根据我们的性能数据，我们预计扭矩产生的潜力在黑掌绢毛猴和其他两种皇柽柳猴之间是中间的。令人惊讶的是，我们发现白脸卷尾猴和皇柽柳猴具有相对更坚固的形态结构以及相对更大的肌肉内杠杆，因此在跳跃过程中涉及的压力方面似乎比其他两种更适应。
这项研究表明了行为和形态“层面”相互映射的复杂方式，警告人们在使用大型种间生态形态学研究来进行适应性进化推断时，不要过于简化生态特征。
