In non-mammalian synapsids and early mammals, evolutionary transformations in the
feeding and hearing apparatuses are posited to have been prerequisites for the radiation of …

Tests of phenotypic convergence can provide evidence of adaptive evolution, and the
popularity of such studies has grown in recent years due to the development of novel …

Jaw morphology is closely linked to both diet and biomechanical performance, and jaws are
one of the most common Mesozoic mammal fossil elements. Knowledge of the dietary and …

Ecology and biomechanics play central roles in the generation of phenotypic diversity. When
unrelated taxa invade a similar ecological niche, biomechanical demands can drive …

Mammalian omnivores are a broad group of species that are often treated uniformly in
ecological studies. Here, we incorporate omnivorous dietary differences to investigate …

The relationship between skull morphology and diet is a prime example of adaptive
evolution. In mammals, the skull consists of the cranium and the mandible. Although the …

The diversity of vertebrate skeletons is often attributed to adaptations to distinct ecological
factors such as diet, locomotion, and sensory environment. Although the adaptive evolution …

The evolutionary shift from a single-element ear, multi-element jaw to a multi-element ear,
single-element jaw during the transition to crown mammals marks one of the most dramatic …

Selective pressures favor morphologies that are adapted to distinct ecologies, resulting in
trait partitioning among ecomorphotypes. However, the effects of these selective pressures …

Understanding functional adaptation demands an integrative framework that captures the
complex interactions between form, function, ecology, and evolutionary processes. In this …