Presenter: Natasha Mckibben
Faculty Mentor: Charles Kimmel, Saywer Watson
Presentation Type: Poster 77
Primary Research Area: Science
Major: Human Physiology
In vertebrate species, bone morphology directly affects the function of the individual bone and the way it works within the skeletal system as a whole. Over the course of development, a variety of growth patterns are crucial in coordinating changes in bone morphology. Studying these changes in Chinook salmon, we hypothesized that the lower jaw bones, dentary and angular articular, grow allometrically, meaning that shape changes as a function of size. This study characterizes the growth pattern by quantitatively comparing bone shape of juvenile salmon using geometric morphometrics. We used two groups of juveniles at different ages, the first with an average length (fork length) of 48.5 mm and 85 mm for the second. We found that as the fish grows in length, the dentary becomes broader, while the posterior aspect of the angular articular rotates in a clockwise direction. These results show that growth between the two stages is allometric, supporting our hypothesis. We now can inquire whether the same allometric rules dictate the shape changes during other life history stages. To address this question we are examining both earlier and later time points of Chinook development. Studying such growth patterns across development can be used to evaluate how early growth patterns can impact the overall development of the individual and influence functionality, together resulting in constraints on evolution.