Osteological profiling of femoral diaphysis and neck in aquatic, semiaquatic, and terrestrial carnivores and rodents: effects of body size and locomotor habits

The increased limb bone density documented previously for aquatic tetrapods has been proposed to be an adaptation to overcome buoyancy during swimming and diving. It can be achieved by increasing the amount of bone deposition or by reducing the amount of bone resorption, leading to cortical thickeni...

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Published in:Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology, 2024-08, Vol.194 (4), p.473-492
Main Authors: Nieminen, Petteri, Finnilä, Mikko A. J., Hämäläinen, Wilhelmiina, Lehtiniemi, Saara, Jämsä, Timo, Tuukkanen, Juha, Kunnasranta, Mervi, Henttonen, Heikki, Mustonen, Anne-Mari
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation
Animal Physiology
Biochemistry
Biomechanical engineering
Biomechanics
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Biomedicine
Body mass
Body size
Bone biomechanics
Bone density
Bone mass
Bone mineral density
Bone resorption
Buoyancy
Cancellous bone
Carnivores
Cluster analysis
Clustering
Computed tomography
Cortical bone
Diaphysis
Discriminant analysis
Diving
Femur
Generalized linear models
Human Physiology
Life Sciences
Loading
Medullary bone
Niches
Original Paper
Phylogeny
Rodents
Seals
Seals (animals)
Statistical models
Swimming
Terrestrial environments
Zoology
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Summary:The increased limb bone density documented previously for aquatic tetrapods has been proposed to be an adaptation to overcome buoyancy during swimming and diving. It can be achieved by increasing the amount of bone deposition or by reducing the amount of bone resorption, leading to cortical thickening, loss of medullary cavity, and compaction of trabecular bone. The present study examined the effects of locomotor habit, body size, and phylogeny on the densitometric, cross-sectional, and biomechanical traits of femoral diaphysis and neck in terrestrial, semiaquatic, and aquatic carnivores, and in terrestrial and semiaquatic rodents (12 species) by using peripheral quantitative computed tomography, three-point bending, and femoral neck loading tests. Groupwise differences were analyzed with the univariate generalized linear model and the multivariate linear discriminant analysis supplemented with hierarchical clustering. While none of the individual features could separate the lifestyles or species adequately, the combinations of multiple features produced very good or excellent classifications and clusterings. In the phocid seals, the aquatic niche allowed for lower femoral bone mineral densities than expected based on the body mass alone. The semiaquatic mammals mostly had high bone mineral densities compared to the terrestrial species, which could be considered an adaptation to overcome buoyancy during swimming and shallow diving. Generally, it seems that different osteological properties at the levels of mineral density and biomechanics could be compatible with the adaptation to aquatic, semiaquatic, or terrestrial niches.
ISSN:0174-1578
1432-136X
1432-136X
DOI:10.1007/s00360-024-01551-7