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or a bat with a short face that gives it the bite force to penetrate hard figs.
The researchers also unveiled an engineering model of a skull that can be manipulated computationally to morph into the shape of any New world Leaf-nosed bat species to help uncover evidence for selection in long-extinct organisms.
Nectar feeding bats comprised one of three evolutionary optima for mechanical advantage among New world Leaf-nosed bats. Photo credit:
The key finding is that in a highly diverse group--New world Leaf-nosed bats--selection for mechanical advantage has shaped three distinct optimal skull shapes that correspond to feeding niches Dr. Dá
The research team investigated adaptive radiation--the explosive evolution of species into new ecological niches powered by natural selection--of New world Leaf-nosed bats.
The researchers first built the three-dimensional finite element model to simulate bat skulls with myriad combinations of snout length and width.
and engineering (dark blue) models for the base model of the omnivorous bat Carollia perspicillata (B) and the morphed models for the nectar-feeding Glossophaga soricina (A)
and the specialized fig-eating Short-faced bat Centurio senex (C). They then analyzed the models to determine structural strength and mechanical advantage--the efficiency and hardness of the bats'bite.
#Morphing bat skull model: Using engineering plus evolutionary analyses to answer natural selection questionsintroducing a new approach that combines evolutionary
valos of Stony Brook University and support from the National Science Foundation studied the evolutionary histories of the adaptive radiation of New world leaf-nosed bats based on their dietary niches.
They set out to tackle this by examining almost 200 species of New world leaf-nosed bats that exploit many different food niches:
She and colleagues built an engineering model of a bat skull that can morph into the shape of any species
Analyzing the engineering results over hundreds of evolutionary trees of New world leaf-nosed bats revealed three optimal snout shapes favored by natural selection they report.
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