EAPSI:Form and Function of the Gibbon Cervical Spine

Grider-Potter Neysa A, Tempe AZ

Investigators

Abstract

Habitual bipedal locomotion distinguishes the human lineage from that of all other primates. How the head and neck responded to this radical change in mode of locomotion remains understudied. The neck functions in two critical ways: it stabilizes and mobilizes the head. This study will attempt to understand how the shape of bones composing the neck (i.e. cervical vertebrae) is adapted to these functions. This research will be conducted in collaboration with Drs. Hiroo Kumakura and Ryosuke Goto at the University of Osaka, who possess the unique combination of equipment, expertise, and access to live primates to be ideal mentors on this research. Elucidating the relationship between vertebral form and neck function will facilitate understanding the postural behavior of fossil species. More broadly, results of this study can be used to evaluate the appropriateness of using non-human primates as proxies for humans in spinal injury research. A gibbon (Hylobates lar) will be filmed during habitual locomotion with head and neck movement evaluated using motion analysis software. Mobility will be measured using radiographs of its maximum range of head-neck movement. These functional measures of posture and mobility will be related to specific aspects of cervical vertebral form. Form-function relationships established here will be used to understand the adaptations of the primate cervical spine as well as retrodict the behaviors of fossil specimens based on preserved morphology. This project will further the understanding of the functional morphology of the cervical spine, its relationship to locomotor diversification within the hominoid clade, and the mosaic evolution of hominin bipedal locomotion. The NSF EAPSI award supports the research of a U.S. graduate student and is funded in collaboration with the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science.