Our findings are consistent with those of Prevosti et al. [ 22] who also found evidence to support the hypothesis of morphological constraint in the oral region (albeit in the dentary, not tested here) of extant marsupial carnivores.
This study further uncovers a genetic relationship between sensory morphology and non-neural traits (bony lateral plates), creating an opportunity to investigate morphological constraints on sensory evolution in a vertebrate model system.
These results suggest that despite morphological constraints and subjective factors in the delineation of eroded phases, these soils should be viewed as unique pedological entities that hold lasting value for understanding the effects of accelerated erosion on soil morphology, crop production, and ecosystem services.
Of course, in general there will be metabolic, bandwidth or morphological constraints, which can be readily incorporated in the constraints on sensor and actuator evolution.
Both environmental and behavioral factors constitute morphological constraints on birds, as exemplified by the many similarities in external morphology between various ovenbird-woodcreeper lineages and other passerines.
This significant reduction in aquatic-to-terrestrial adaptive morphological constraints indicates that tetanocerine phylogenesis likely tracked some ecological pressures (e.g., increased aquatic predation and/or increased terrestrial food availability) more accurately than did more constrained lineages.
In addition to direct effects of male harassment (discussed above), it is likely that female fecundity is also shaped by morphological constraints, with smaller or slender females being limited in the number of eggs they can store; see also Ischnura elegans[ 33].
In the context of functional processes, morphological constraints are due to interactions within and between different structures and both biotic and abiotic selection pressures [ 2- 4].
Laternula species are conservative in shell form and habitat suggesting they share morphological constraints at different latitudes [ 32].
Uniformity in frequency range may be explained by similar morphological constraints [ 43] and similar predation pressure [ 44] for the three species studied.
