Respuesta :
The equation of the least-squares line for predicting tail length from weight is: predicted tail length = 20 + 3 × weight .
Determining how variation in morphology affects animal performance (and ultimately fitness) is key to understanding the complete process of evolutionary adaptation. Long tails have evolved many times in arboreal and semi-arboreal rodents; in deer mice, long tails have evolved repeatedly in populations occupying forested habitat even within a single species (Peromyscus maniculatus).
We use a combination of functional modeling, laboratory studies, and museum records to test hypotheses about the function of tail-length variation in deer mice.
First, we use computational models, informed by museum records documenting natural variation in tail length, to test whether differences in tail morphology between forest and prairie subspecies can influence performance in behavioural contexts relevant for tail use. We find that the deer- mouse tail plays little role in statically adjusting centre of mass or in correcting body pitch and yaw, but rather it can affect body roll during arboreal locomotion.
In this context, we find that even intraspecific tail-length variation could result in substantial differences in how much body rotation results from equivalent tail motions (i.e., tail effectiveness), but the relationship between commonly-used metrics of tail-length variation and effectiveness is non-linear.
Learn more about Morphology here : https://brainly.com/question/1384273
#SPJ4
