Workshop on Pattern Formation and Functional Morphology, Mon, 07 Jan, 2008
Speaker: Daniela Candia Carnevali
Abstract
Structure without function is a corpse, function without structure is a ghost (Vogel and Wainwright, 1969). Functional morphology (Yonge, 1925) is an interdisciplinary approach addressed to study the interactions between form and function in organisms and can typically combine both traditional biological methods, namely morphology and physiology, to mathematical and computational methods. The problem form/function permeates the whole biological reality, and represents a fundamental keystone at all the hierarchic levels (from molecules to cells and tissues, to organs and apparatuses, and to whole organisms) by closely combining functional explanations to evolutionary explanations. Functional morphology is also referred to the study of the organisms as integrated systems statically and dynamically obeying to processes and principles of physics, but always implies the potential and the limits imposed by onthogenetic and phylogenetic constraints. In this approach which explores fundamental problems of organisms not only related to constructional morphology and biomechanics, but also to developmental (growth and morphogenesis) and environmental biology, the complex reality of biological phenomena, can be described and interpreted by resorting to mathematical modelling and computer simulations, which make it possible to incorporate experimental observations into consistent theory to be used in prediction, optimization and even manipulation of biological processes. This contribution gives a brief review of significant examples and models which underline the potential applications of this approach for re-exploring traditional aspects of animal biology from new powerful perspectives.
URL: www.ricam.oeaw.ac.at/specsem/ssqbm/participants/abstracts/index.php
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