Title |
Morphological Evolution of Spiders Predicted by Pendulum Mechanics
|
---|---|
Published in |
PLOS ONE, March 2008
|
DOI | 10.1371/journal.pone.0001841 |
Pubmed ID | |
Authors |
Jordi Moya-Laraño, Dejan Vinković, Eva De Mas, Guadalupe Corcobado, Eulalia Moreno |
Abstract |
Animals have been hypothesized to benefit from pendulum mechanics during suspensory locomotion, in which the potential energy of gravity is converted into kinetic energy according to the energy-conservation principle. However, no convincing evidence has been found so far. Demonstrating that morphological evolution follows pendulum mechanics is important from a biomechanical point of view because during suspensory locomotion some morphological traits could be decoupled from gravity, thus allowing independent adaptive morphological evolution of these two traits when compared to animals that move standing on their legs; i.e., as inverted pendulums. If the evolution of body shape matches simple pendulum mechanics, animals that move suspending their bodies should evolve relatively longer legs which must confer high moving capabilities. |
Mendeley readers
Geographical breakdown
Country | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Brazil | 4 | 4% |
United States | 4 | 4% |
Mexico | 2 | 2% |
Australia | 1 | 1% |
Singapore | 1 | 1% |
Réunion | 1 | 1% |
Spain | 1 | 1% |
Canada | 1 | 1% |
Unknown | 82 | 85% |
Demographic breakdown
Readers by professional status | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Student > Ph. D. Student | 23 | 24% |
Researcher | 18 | 19% |
Student > Master | 13 | 13% |
Professor > Associate Professor | 10 | 10% |
Student > Bachelor | 9 | 9% |
Other | 20 | 21% |
Unknown | 4 | 4% |
Readers by discipline | Count | As % |
---|---|---|
Agricultural and Biological Sciences | 63 | 65% |
Environmental Science | 9 | 9% |
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology | 3 | 3% |
Engineering | 3 | 3% |
Earth and Planetary Sciences | 2 | 2% |
Other | 7 | 7% |
Unknown | 10 | 10% |