BIO354H5 Chapter 1: BIO354 Chapter 1
Document Summary
Comparative morphology deal with significance of anatomy - focus on animals specifically vertebrates. Comparison is a convenient tool used to emphasize the evolutionary themes in structure of vertebrates - helps formulate questions about structure. Ex. homocercal tail - found in teleost fish (salmon, tuna, trout, etc. ) which have swim bladder that gives the body neutral buoyancy so they don"t sink. Whereas heterocercal tails - found in sharks which lack swim bladder so they tend to sink - they have an extended lobe of their tail which provides lift to help counteract sinking tendency. Difference in the structure are related to function. Functional morphology discipline that related structure to function because form. Functional analysis helps answer questions and gives understanding of animal and function are couple design. Comparative analysis provides methods to address different biological questions. Extrapolation - comparing effects of different species and making assumptions.
