Jayne Nowak
Research Mentor(s): Alison Davis Rabosky
Mentor Department: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Authors: Jayne Nowak, Natasha Stepanova, Michael Hogan, Ramon Nagesan, Alison Davis-Rabosky
Session: Session 1 (9:00am – 9:50am)
Presentation Type: Poster 72
Abstract
Ear-regular Morphology in Sidewinding Vipers Jayne Nowak, Natasha Stepanova, Michael Hogan, Ramon Nagesan, Alison Davis Rabosky The topic of my research involves the study of sensory systems present in snakes. Our research is studying a family of snake-vipers with a focus on sidewinders. Sidewinding snakes are usually found in desert areas and move across the sand by lifting their midsection off the ground, throwing their body forward in a loop, and then thrusting their head forward. This is very different from the commonly known locomotion of most snakes, which is an S-shaped side-to-side movement, which leads us to believe that this behavior could be an adaptation to maintain their balance in this different terrain The main question I am trying to answer with my research is if there are apparent morphological differences in the inner ear structures of sidewinding species compared to non-sidewinding species. The purpose of this experiment is to learn more about this behavior and if it would be accurate to assume that these types of snakes are only able to do this action because of their unique morphology, or if it is simply a behavior that was adapted in response to their environment. I hypothesize that there will be morphological differences between sidewinders versus non-sidewinding species. The inner ear is an extremely important sensory structure and has a great impact on the overall balance, navigation, and positional self-awareness of the species. This leads us to believe that if the behavior and movement is changed then there must be a morphology change. If it is shown that there is not a significant difference in the morphology of the inner ear, it is also possible that there is a change in a different structure, such as the vertebral column. To complete this research, we are using CT scans of preserved snake specimens from the University of Michigan Museum of Zoology collection, which allows fine-scale exploration of internal anatomy. We segmented the inner ear and columella from snake specimens, took measurements, and then used phylogenetic comparative methods to test for a difference in morphology between sidewinding and non-sidewinding species. The main implication of this research is to learn more about the evolutionary adaptations of snakes and whether they affect their morphology.
