UAntwerp FunMorph

Creatures of habit: similar but more repeatable behaviours in insular compared with mainland lizards Island habitats often differ markedly from those on the mainland in many biotic and abiotic factors. Typically, they harbour fewer predator, competito…

Three field seasons

219 lizards 🦎

>1,000 hours of behavioural video scoring

Proud of Ioanna Gavriilidi for getting this major chapter of her PhD on insularity and lizard behaviur published.

Serious dedication!

First PhD paper out for Eleesha Annear—and what a start!
Her work uncovers surprising variation in osteoderm size and shape across populations, sexes, and body regions in a cordylid lizard 🦎 academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/a...

A modelling perspective on torque–frequency trade-offs in multifunctional lever systems driven by antagonist muscle pairs Summary: Low-inertia musculoskeletal lever systems are primarily constrained in their high-frequency movement output by fiber types and orderly recruitment, whereas mass, muscle cross-sectional area a...

This is vital information moving forward in research on the #biomechanical trade-offs within avian feeding and vocalisation, but also has broad applications for many muscle-driven lever systems. Read more here: 🔗 doi.org/10.1242/jeb....

A modelling perspective on torque–frequency trade-offs in multifunctional lever systems driven by antagonist muscle pairs Summary: Low-inertia musculoskeletal lever systems are primarily constrained in their high-frequency movement output by fiber types and orderly recruitment, whereas mass, muscle cross-sectional area a...

Using a model of a Java finch mandible 🐦, the study shows muscle fibre type is key: overdeveloped muscles recruit slow-twitch fibres, boosting torque but reducing frequency (Henneman’s principle).

Alternating contractions of antagonistic #muscle pairs can produce rapid cyclical movements, but systems adapted for high static #torque are expected to move more slowly. Cas tested how fibre type, muscle size, moment arms & inertia shape this trade-off 💪

Paper alert from @uafunmorph.bsky.social! 💥PhD researcher Cas Jorissen just published a chapter of his #PhD in @jexpbiol.bsky.social on torque–frequency trade-offs in muscle-driven lever systems

By integrating evidence from #mammals 🦁, #fish 🐟, #amphibians 🐸, #reptiles 🦎, and #birds 🐦, this paper highlights broader evolutionary patterns and provides a clearer comparative framework that facilitates interpretation of future results. Read more here: onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

In a new review paper in Biological Reviews, co-authored by @uafunmorph.bsky.social PhD student @maja-mielke.bsky.social, Daniel Schwarz et al. synthesize this diversity across vertebrates and propose a unified terminology and conceptual framework for oropharyngeal food processing.

From mammalian #mastication to specialized #jaw movements in fishes or #tongue driven processing in amphibians, vertebrates have evolved a remarkable diversity of ways to process food!

🦎Check out this new study by Ioanna Gavriilidi of @uafunmorph.bsky.social. 🦎

Taking personality into account, the team showed how lizards with higher spatial cognition scores exploit the thermal heterogeneity of their environment but with less accurate thermoregulation.

📖 doi.org/10.1016/j.jt...

Relationship between cognitive and thermoregulatory performance in the common wall lizard Behavioural thermoregulation is critical for reptiles, because it allows them to maintain their body temperatures within a range that optimizes physio…

Read the article published in the Journal of Thermal Biology here: www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

We look forward to seeing many more collaborative studies of this integrative nature in the near future from our lab!

#physiology #experimentalbiology #temperature

Using common wall lizards in a set-up mimicking the lizards’ natural, spatiotemporally heterogeneous thermal #environment, higher cognition scores were linked to exploitation of the thermal heterogeneity, but not more accurate thermoregulation.

#Podarcis

Behavioural #thermoregulation is vital for #reptiles and may involve cognitive processes! A new FunMorph study led by Ioanna Gavriilidi tested whether better spatial cognition is correlated with more efficient thermoregulatory behaviour, while accounting for personality. 🦎🔥 #cognition #behaviour

An alternative pattern of head expansion during feeding in cichlids - Communications Biology Kinematic analyses of Lake Malawi cichlids reveal that algae specialists use head expansions that happen synchronously along the head. This contrasts with the wave-like pattern of piscivores and is hy...

Now online - Kinematic analyses of Lake Malawi cichlids reveal that algae specialists use head expansions that happen synchronously along the head, hypothesized to increase feeding efficiency in contrast to the wave-like pattern of piscivores.🐟
@uafunmorph.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1038/s420...

An alternative pattern of head expansion during feeding in cichlids - Communications Biology Kinematic analyses of Lake Malawi cichlids reveal that algae specialists use head expansions that happen synchronously along the head. This contrasts with the wave-like pattern of piscivores and is hypothesized to increase algae feeding efficiency.

In collaboration with cichlid fish experts from the Evolutionary Ecology Lab @SvardalGroup at #UAntwerpen
Read more here: www.nature.com/articles/s42...

Fish suck... but species that feed on algae suck differently! 🐟 A new publication in Communications Biology by #UAFunMorph members Jana De Ridder, Peter Aerts, and Sam Van Wassenbergh, demonstrates how head motion patterns for generating suction are finetuned to the species' main diets.

Evolutionary consequences of extreme climate events Simon Baeckens and Colin Donihue review case studies of rapid evolutionary change in response to extreme climate events and sketch a framework for future studies in the rapidly changing climate of the...

Extreme climate events can catalyze rapid evolutionary change! in our new Current Biology (@currentbiology.bsky.social) piece, Colin and I argue it’s time to study their evolutionary consequences systematically — beyond opportunistic observations. www.cell.com/current-biol...

#masterstudents #masterinbiology #universiteitantwerpen #biology #stem #science #biomechanics #palaeobiology #evolution #ecology #morphology #herpetology #mammalogy #ornitology #ichthyology | UAntwerp... New LinkedIn, new academic year, and new master's students. So, let’s kick off this account with a preview of the topics our students will be working on this year! FunMorph is taking on more than a d...

You can now also follow us on LinkedIn! 👏 Check out the FunMorph Lab LinkedIn page here: www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

To help them with a smooth start, we organised an introduction session where they got the opportunity to present themselves and their project.

Keep an eye out for more updates from our lab, including the student projects, throughout the coming year!

#masterinbiology

Let’s kick off the new academic year! 🎉 FunMorph welcomes 12+ @uantwerpen.be master’s students this year, working with a very diverse set of study organisms, just like our lab members: boxfish 🐡, sharks 🦈, cats 🐆, otters 🦦, sealions, hippos 🦛, tapirs 🐱/🐴, snakes 🐍, lizards 🦎, ducks 🦆, canaries 🐤

While both #island & mainland #lizards may recognize their own #scent and that of others — islanders tongue-flick much less, hinting at reduced reliance on chemical cues in island environments zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/... @uafunmorph.bsky.social @simon.baeckens.bsky.social

Lukas Hageneder from @uafunmorph.bsky.social is studying how the tongue and skeleton of ducks interact to successfully filter food

Today is the day!
#SEBExPalaeo will be live at #SEBCONFERENCE

9h30 in Nightingale 1&2
(follow signs for Bird Rooms)

Looking forward to seeing you for plenty of experimental #palaeontology #palaeobotany #3D #modelling and fun discussions!

A lizard in sight whets the appetite? 🦎 Read how conspecifics influence island and mainland lizards’ foraging decisions in @UAFunMorph's new paper by Ioanna Gavriilidi! Link to the full article: authors.elsevier.com/a/1lPDn1LenM...

On the flick of the tongue: male island and mainland lizards' responses to self and conspecific chemical stimuli We compared the chemosensory recognition abilities of mainland and island Italian wall lizards (Podarcis siculus). Both populations discriminated between self and conspecific scents, but island lizar...

Another PhD chapter published for Ioanna Gavriilidi @uafunmorph.bsky.social, now in @jzoology.bsky.social! She finds that island-dwelling lizards tend to rely less on chemosensory cues compared to their mainland counterparts. zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/...

Without the locals’ aid: no evidence for a role of admixture in the colonisation success of Italian wall lizards - Oecologia The successful establishment of small founding populations introduced into novel environments often represents a paradox, given the genetic challenges they face. Genetic admixture, whether intra- or i...

link.springer.com/article/10.1...

New paper alert! 💥Check out the paper of FunMorph's Lisa Van Linden exploring the potential role of interspecific admixture during the colonisation of a small island by Italian wall #lizards using population #genomic analyses 🧬💻 Spoiler alert: they did it all by themselves! 🦎🏝️ See link below:

🗓️ Save the date!

26-28 May 2025 | Université de Bordeaux, France.

Symposium and workshop :
Biomechanical simulation techniques in evolutionary morphology and biomedical sciences.

More info and registration: www.eventbrite.fr/e/1263754958...

Beak dimensions affect feeding performance within a granivorous songbird species Summary: In canaries, individuals with greater beak depth were faster at dehusking large seeds. Unexpectedly, however, individuals with smaller beaks did not perform significantly better at processing...

This suggests beak adaptations for strength don’t necessarily reduce efficiency on easier foods. 🐤 Read the full study by PhD student Tim Andries here: doi.org/10.1242/jeb.... @jexpbiol.bsky.social #canaries #kinematics #morphology

Larger beaks generate more force for tough seeds, while smaller beaks move faster. We found that birds with larger beak depths dehusked large seeds faster, but smaller or longer beaks didn’t provide a processing advantage for small seeds. 💪⚡