THE UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY Eric Snively A ... - Ohio University

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
Animais as integrated sysferns
The functional morphology of animals encompasses their operation as
volitional machines within phylogenetic, developmental, and selective wntexts
(Lauder et al. 1989). Neurosensory feedback and motor control by the central
nervous system, mediated by endocrine activity, impel the organism into coarse
functions and behaviours (Zweers 1979). Multifariously interconnected
subsystems (Bock 1989), such as an organ system consisting of bones, tendons,
muscles, ligaments, and their nervous and vascular supplies, cany out functions
of selective importance to the animai. Function may be defined as what an
animal does with an anatomical structure, while biological role refers to a
function's selective utility to the phenotype at the appropriate stage in its life
history (Bock and von Wahlert 1965).
The study of animals as living systems benefits from a combination of
reductionistic, synthetic, and expansive approaches. For example, the
biomechanics of individual muscles and bones are assessed in relation to one
another. These studies are ideally integrated with arthrology and innervation for
an overall picture of function (Bock 1989, Lauder 1990, Zweers 1991 ). Variation
in locornotor or feeding mechanisms can be plaœd under phylogenetic,
biogeographic, and ewlogical purviews, in order to understand the evolution of a
structure's biological role (Bock 1979, RusseIl 1 979a, Liem 1989).
Five major approaches inform the investigation of integrated systems and
evolutionary morphology (Lauder et al. 1989, Zweers 1991). Ontogenetic study