Feeding In Vertebrates

This book provides students and researchers with reviews of biological questions related to the evolution of feeding by vertebrates in aquatic and terrestrial environments. Based on recent technical developments and novel conceptual approaches, the book covers functional questions on trophic behavior in nearly all vertebrate groups including jawless fishes. The book describes mechanisms and theories for understanding the relationships between feeding structure and feeding behavior. Finally, the book demonstrates the importance of adopting an integrative approach to the trophic system in order to understand evolutionary mechanisms across the biodiversity of vertebrates.

As the first four-legged vertebrates, called tetrapods, crept up along the shores of ancient primordial seas, feeding was among the most paramount of their concerns. Looking back into the mists of evolutionary time, fish-like ancestors can be seen transformed by natural selection and other evolutionary pressures into animals with feeding habitats as varied as an anteater and a whale. From frog to pheasant and salamander to snake, every lineage of tetrapods has evolved unique feeding anatomy and behavior.Similarities in widely divergent tetrapods vividly illustrate their shared common ancestry. At the same time, numerous differences between and among tetrapods document the power and majesty that comprises organismal evolutionary history.Feeding is a detailed survey of the varied ways that land vertebrates acquire food. The functional anatomy and the control of complex and dynamic structural components are recurrent themes of this volume. Luminaries in the discipline of feeding biology have joined forces to create a book certain to stimulate future studies of animal anatomy and behavior.

Although feeding is not yet been thoroughly studied in many vertebrates taxa, and different conceptual and methodological approaches of the concerned scientists make a synthesis difficult, the aim of the editors is to provide a comprehensive overview of the feeding design in aquatic and terrestrial vertebrates with a detailed description of its functional properties. The book emphasizes the constant interaction between function and form, behaviour and morphology in the course of evolution of the feeding apparatus and way of feeding both complementary and basically related to survival interspecific competition, adaptation to environmental changes and adaptive radiations. Special stress is drawn onquantification of the observational and experimental data on the morphology and biomechanics of the feeding design and its element jaws, teeth, hyoidean apparatus, tongue, in order to allow present and further comparisons in an evolutionary perspective.

1 Functional Properties of the Feeding Musculature.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Functional Properties of Individual Muscle Fibers.- 3 Fiber Types and Contractile Properties in Vertebrate Feeding Muscles.- References.- 2 Feeding Mechanisms in Sharks and Other Elasmobranchs T.H Frazzetta.- 1 Chondrichthyian Fishes.- 2 Elasmobranchs.- 3 The Shark Jaw Apparatus.- 4 Feeding behavior.- 5 Morphomechanics and function.- 6 Other Elasmobranchs.- 7 Conclusions.- References.- 3 The Pharyngeal Apparatus in Teleost Feeding.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Morphology.- 3 Role of the Pharyngeal Apparatus in Food Processing.- 4 Development of the Pharyngeal Jaws.- 5 Polymorphism and Plasticity of the Pharyngeal Jaw Apparatus.- 6 Concluding Remarks.- References.- 4 Feeding in Tetrapods.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Problems and Solutions for Terrestrial Feeding.- 3 Amphibians: Conflict and Prey Ingestion.- 4 Reptilian and Mammalian Prey Ingestion.- 5 Teeth, Crushing and Mastication.- 6 The Adductor Muscles and Their Action Patterns.- 7 Cycles.- 8 Overview.- References.- 5 Sensorimotor Processes That Underlie Feeding Behavior in Tetrapods.- 1 Behavior Patterns Related to Feeding.- 2 Definitions Referring to "Sensori-", "Motor-", and "Command-".- 3 The Motor Part of Prey Snapping in Toads.- 4 The Feature-Analyzing Part of Prey Catching.- 5 A Concept of a Neuronal Circuit for the Tongue Flip.- References.- 6 Amphibian Feeding Behavior: Comparative Biomechanics and Evolution.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Overview of Feeding Mechanics in Fishes.- 3 Salamander Feeding Mechanics.- 4 Frog Feeding Mechanics.- 5 Comparative Analysis of Amphibian Feeding.- 6 Recommendations and Future Directions.- References.- 7 Biomechanics of the Hyolingual System in Squamata.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Functional and Biomechanical Studies of the Hyolingual System.- 3 Evolutionary Comparison of Hyolingual Biomechanics 234 References.- 8 Behavioral Mechanisms of Avian Feeding.- 1 Introduction.- 2 General Food Acquisition Mechanism: Pecking.- 3 Specific Food-Handling Mechanisms: Husking and Storage.- 4 Specific Food Acquisition Mechanisms.- 5 Sensory Control and Motor Patterning.- 6 Principles of Avian Food Acquisition.- References.- 9 Evolutionary Approach of Masticatory Motor Patterns in Mammals W.A Weijs.- 1 Introduction and Scope.- 2 The Evolutionary Development of the Mammalian Jaw Apparatus.- 3 Mammalian Jaw Muscles and Feeding Cycles: Definitions.- 4 Feeding in Primitive Mammals.- 5 Bats.- 6 Primates.- 7 Carnivores.- 8 Ungulate Grinding Type.- 9 Rodents.- 10 Discussion.- References.- 10 Differential Wear of Enamel: A Mechanism for Maintaining Sharp Cutting Edges A.W Crompton, C.B Wood and D.N Stern.- 1 Introduction.- 2 Material and Methods.- 3 Results.- 4 Discussion.- References.- Conclusion: A General Theory for Feeding Mechanics?.

Domestication of vertebrates is based on the understanding of the needs of animals in their natural environment. Thus the success of this domestication throughout human history is largely dependant of the knowledge of the animal feeding behaviour. The aim of this volume is to provide advanced students and researchers with a review of current knowledge of feeding in domestic mammals and birds. The book also presents chapters on feeding behaviour in particular species; the scope is wide, covering not only ruminants, poultry and pigs, but also more specifically horses, rabbits and ostrich. Contributors include leading research workers from Europe, USA, Australia and South Africa.

Responding to recent interest in the gastrointestinal tract as a model for studies in physiological and ecological adaptation to fluctuating environmental conditions, this collection summarizes the current state of knowledge from an integrative perspective. The contributors come from the fields of comparative morphology, nutritional physiology, eco

Feeding is invoked in some way in almost all the encounters and associations between different species. The choice of food is immense: plants grow in a multitude of forms, from seaweeds to cactuses and from grasses to forest trees: animal prey is available from tiny krill in the oceans to antelopes on the plains. As almost every species is accessible to another with the right feeding strategy, there is a continual evolutionary jostling between eater and eaten for the advantage over the other. Among both plants and animals elaborate strategies have evolved for exploring the surrounding life as food. The feeding behavior of predators is based on a search and strike strategy. In contrast, grazers live surrounded by their food and are relatively immobile. Such animals as impalas and grasshoppers, whose persistent feeding make them ready prey, have evolved means of avoiding the notice of predators or methods of speedy escape. Plants that digest animal tissue have evolved complex and devious means to attract prey. The variations in style of these feeding encounters and the precision involved in some of the feeding mechanisms are the themes of Feeding Strategy.