page_title: Ecomorphology
section_title: Ecomorphology and functional morphology
hierarchical_section_title: Ecomorphology / Ecomorphology / Ecomorphology and functional morphology
context_page_description: Ecomorphology or ecological morphology is the study of the relationship between the ecological role of an individual and its morphological adaptations. The term "morphological" here is in the anatomical context. Both the morphology and ecology exhibited by an organism are directly or indirectly influenced by their environment, and ecomorphology aims to identify the differences Current research places emphasis on linking morphology and ecological niche by measuring the performance of traits associated behaviours, and fitness outcomes of the relationships.
  Current ecomorphological research focuses on a functional approach and application to the science. A broadening of this field welcomes further research in the debate regarding differences between both the ecological and morphological makeup of an organism.
context_section_description: Functional morphology differs from ecomorphology in that it deals with the features arising from form at varying levels of organisation. Ecomorphology, on the other hand, refers to those features which can be shown to derive from the ecology surrounding the species. In other words, functional morphology focuses heavily on the relationship between form and function whereas ecomorphology is interested in the form and the influences from which it arises. Functional morphology studies often investigate relationships between the form of Skeletal muscle and physical properties such as force generation and joint mobility. This means that functional morphology experiments may be done under laboratory conditions whereas ecomorphological experiments may not. Moreover, studies of functional morphology themselves provide insufficient data upon which to make conclusions regarding environmental adaptations of a species. The data provided from these studies can, however, support and enrich the understanding of a species' ecomorphological adaptations. For instance, the relationship between the organization of the jaw lever-arm system, mouth size, and jaw muscle force generation and the feeding behaviour of sunfish has been investigated. Work of this variety lends scientific support to seemingly intuitive concepts. For instance, increases in mouth size correspond to an increase in prey size. However, less obvious trends also exist. The prey-size of fish does not seem to correlate so much to body size as to the characteristics of the feeding apparatus.
caption: Ecomorphological relationships have been demonstrated between jaw structure and the feeding biology of sunfish.
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