Terrestrial Force Production by the Limbs of a Semi-Aquatic Salamander Provides Insight Into The
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bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.01.442256; this version posted May 2, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 1 Terrestrial force production by the limbs of a semi-aquatic salamander provides insight into the 2 evolution of terrestrial locomotor mechanics 3 4 Sandy M. Kawano1*, and Richard W. Blob2 5 6 1Department of Biological Sciences, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C. 7 20052, U.S.A. 8 2Department of Biological Sciences, Clemson University, Clemson, SC 29634, U.S.A. 9 10 *Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected] 11 12 Running title: Kinetics of fins and limbs on land 13 Keywords: biomechanics, ground reaction force, terrestrial locomotion, salamander, fish, water- 14 to-land transition 15 16 # of tables: 7 # of figures: 3 17 Total word count (Intro, Results, Discussion, Acknowledgements, Funding, Conclusion, Figure 18 legends): 1107 + 4012 + 884 = 6003 19 20 Summary statement (15-30 words): Semi-aquatic salamanders had limb mechanics that were 21 intermediate in magnitude yet steadier than the appendages of terrestrial salamanders and 22 semi-aquatic fish, providing a framework to model semi-aquatic early tetrapods. Page 1 of 34 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.01.442256; this version posted May 2, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 23 ABSTRACT 24 Amphibious fishes and salamanders are valuable functional analogs for vertebrates that 25 spanned the water-to-land transition. However, investigations of walking mechanics have 26 focused on terrestrial salamanders and, thus, may better reflect the capabilities of stem 27 tetrapods that were already terrestrial. The earliest tetrapods were aquatic, so salamanders that 28 are not primarily terrestrial may yield more appropriate data for modelling the incipient stages of 29 terrestrial locomotion. In the present study, locomotor biomechanics were quantified from semi- 30 aquatic Pleurodeles waltl, a salamander that spends most of its adult life in water, and then 31 compared to a primarily terrestrial salamander (Ambystoma tigrinum) and semi-aquatic fish 32 (Periophthalmus barbarus) to evaluate whether walking mechanics show greater similarity 33 between species with ecological versus phylogenetic similarities. Ground reaction forces 34 (GRFs) from individual limbs or fins indicated that the pectoral appendages of each taxon had 35 distinct patterns of force production, but hind limb forces were comparable between the 36 salamanders. The rate of force development (‘yank') was sometimes slower in P. waltl but 37 generally comparable between the three species. Finally, medial inclination of the GRF in P. 38 waltl was intermediate between semi-aquatic fish and terrestrial salamanders, potentially 39 elevating bone stresses among more aquatic taxa as they move on land. These data provide a 40 framework for modelling stem tetrapods using an earlier stage of quadrupedal locomotion that 41 was powered primarily by the hind limbs (i.e., “rear-wheel drive”), and reveal mechanisms for 42 appendages to generate propulsion in three locomotor strategies that are presumed to have 43 occurred across the water-to-land transition in vertebrate evolution. Page 2 of 34 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.01.442256; this version posted May 2, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 44 INTRODUCTION 45 The evolutionary invasion of land was a seminal event in vertebrate history that has received 46 intense study, with integrative approaches filling major gaps in our understanding of how this 47 transition transpired (Ashley-Ross et al. 2013). Skeletal remains and trackways in the fossil 48 record can provide some of the most direct evidence about such historical events, yet also 49 present challenges given the limits to which fossils preserve behavior and functional 50 performance (see (Gatesy et al., 1999; Maidment et al., 2014); and references therein). 51 Consequently, extant amphibious fishes, amphibians, and reptiles have been used as functional 52 models to infer the biology of extinct tetrapodomorphs (tetrapods and tetrapod-like 53 sarcopterygian fishes) (Nyakatura et al., 2019, 2014; Pierce et al., 2013), with extant taxa 54 representing alternative strategies for invading land and potentially serving as models for 55 different functional stages as vertebrates became terrestrial. Investigations of extant taxa 56 exhibiting morphological and/or behavioral traits that are consistent with those of extinct 57 tetrapodomorphs offer particularly intriguing opportunities to evaluate how tetrapods were able 58 to leave the water’s edge (Pierce et al., 2013). 59 In considerations of locomotor performance during the invasion of land, salamanders 60 are often used as functional analogues for early tetrapods since they move between water and 61 land (Karakasiliotis et al., 2012), and exhibit a relatively generalized tetrapod Bauplan that has 62 not changed substantially for at least 150 million years (Gao and Shubin, 2001) and possibly as 63 long as 230 million years (Schoch et al., 2020). Previous studies used living salamanders to 64 gain insights into the biomechanics and muscle physiology of walking underwater (Ashley-Ross 65 et al., 2009; Azizi and Horton, 2004; Deban and Schilling, 2009; Frolich and Biewener, 1992) Page 3 of 34 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.01.442256; this version posted May 2, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 66 and on land (Ashley-Ross et al., 2009; Brand, 1996; Deban and Schilling, 2009; Delvolvé et al., 67 1997; Frolich and Biewener, 1992; Kawano and Blob, 2013; Pierce et al., 2020; Sheffield and 68 Blob, 2011), transitioning between water and land (Ashley-Ross and Bechtel, 2004), and 69 assessing how bone histology relates to ecological habits (Canoville and Laurin, 2009; Laurin et 70 al., 2004). Given the greater effect of gravitational loads on the musculoskeletal system in 71 terrestrial environments (Young et al., 2017), one of the most fundamental requirements for 72 moving on land is the ability to support body weight for maintaining posture and physical forces 73 for locomotion. Evaluations of the weight-bearing capabilities in the limbs of early tetrapods 74 have been approached through measurements of ground reaction forces (GRFs) experienced 75 by the tiger salamander, Ambystoma tigrinum, which demonstrated that the hind limbs 76 supported a similar proportion of body weight as the forelimbs but had a greater contribution to 77 acceleration (Kawano and Blob, 2013). To what extent might these results relate to the 78 locomotor function of early tetrapods? Fossil evidence suggests that some of the first tetrapods, 79 such as Acanthostega, were still aquatic (Coates, 1996), and other early tetrapods, such as 80 Ichthyostega, may have had only limited terrestrial capabilities (Pierce et al., 2012). In contrast, 81 A. tigrinum are found in various terrestrial habitats, ranging from conifer forests to deserts, and 82 adults rarely spend extended durations in water for reasons other than reproduction (Petranka, 83 1998). As such, they may not provide an ideal model for the initial invaders of land, in which 84 terrestrial capacity may not have been fully acquired. How might limb function differ for a 85 species that spends most of its time in water? 86 Because salamanders have a diverse range of habitat preferences and life histories 87 (Wake, 2009), they provide an opportunity to model different evolutionary stages in the adoption Page 4 of 34 bioRxiv preprint doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/2021.05.01.442256; this version posted May 2, 2021. The copyright holder for this preprint (which was not certified by peer review) is the author/funder. All rights reserved. No reuse allowed without permission. 88 of terrestrial habits. Examinations of amphibious species with greater aquatic tendencies could 89 yield substantial insights into the limb function of earlier stem tetrapods with digit-bearing limbs. 90 In this study, we compared GRFs of individual limbs produced by semi-aquatic salamanders 91 (Spanish ribbed newts, Pleurodeles waltl Michahelles 1830; see Electronic Supplementary 92 Materials for details), to published data on terrestrial tiger salamanders, Ambystoma tigrinum 93 Green 1825, and semi-aquatic African mudskippers, Periophthalmus barbarus (Linnaeus 1766) 94 (Kawano and Blob, 2013). We also calculated new measures of yank, the rate of force 95 development (sensu Lin et al., 2019), to evaluate how the rate of force production might differ 96 between these species. Quantifying the dynamics of force-time measures contributes valuable 97 information to explain kinematic and muscle activation patterns (Lin et al., 2019). Our aim in 98 these comparisons was to examine extant taxa that model important stages during the transition 99 to land to quantify the functional differences between fins and limbs for terrestrial locomotion. 100 During aquatic locomotion, dominant force production by the rear appendage (“rear- 101 wheel drive”) may have appeared as early