Large size in aquatic tetrapods compensates for high drag caused by extreme body proportions

Susana Gutarra; Thomas L Stubbs; Benjamin C Moon; Colin Palmer; Michael J Benton

doi:10.1038/s42003-022-03322-y

Large size in aquatic tetrapods compensates for high drag caused by extreme body proportions

Susana Gutarra
, Thomas L Stubbs
, Benjamin C Moon
, Colin Palmer
, Michael J Benton

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article (Academic Journal) › peer-review

18 Citations (Scopus)

122 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Various Mesozoic marine reptile lineages evolved streamlined bodies and efficient lift-based swimming, as seen in modern aquatic mammals. Ichthyosaurs had low-drag bodies, akin to modern dolphins, but plesiosaurs were strikingly different, with long hydrofoil-like limbs and greatly variable neck and trunk proportions. Using computational fluid dynamics, we explore the effect of this extreme morphological variation. We find that, independently of their body fineness ratio, plesiosaurs produced more drag than ichthyosaurs and modern cetaceans of equal mass due to their large limbs, but these differences were not significant when body size was accounted for. Additionally, necks longer than twice the trunk length can substantially increase the cost of forward swimming, but this effect was cancelled out by the evolution of big trunks. Moreover, fast rates in the evolution of neck proportions in the long-necked elasmosaurs suggest that large trunks might have released the hydrodynamic constraints on necks thus allowing their extreme enlargement.

Original language	English
Article number	380
Pages (from-to)	380
Journal	Communications Biology
Volume	5
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-022-03322-y
Publication status	Published - 28 Apr 2022

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank Imran Rahman (Natural History Museum, London), Stephan Lautenschlager (University of Birmingham) and Emily Rayfield (University of Bristol) for comments and discussions on early versions of this manuscript. We are grateful to Armin Elsler (University of Bristol) for sharing custom R-code to extract and visualise the results of the BayesTraits evolutionary rates analysis. We thank Ingmar Werneburg (Palaeontology Collection, Tübingen, Germany), Erin Maxwell (Staatliches Museum für Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany) and Caroline Buttler (National Museum of Wales, UK) for facilitating access to fossil marine reptile specimens. We would also like to thank Neil Kelly, and an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments that helped improve this manuscript. S.G. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and the GW4+DTP (grant no. NE/L002434/1), with additional support from CASE partner National Museum of Wales; B.C.M. and T.L.S. are funded by NERC grant NE/P013724/1 and M.J.B by ERC grant 788203 (INNOVATION).

Funding Information:
We thank Imran Rahman (Natural History Museum, London), Stephan Lautenschlager (University of Birmingham) and Emily Rayfield (University of Bristol) for comments and discussions on early versions of this manuscript. We are grateful to Armin Elsler (University of Bristol) for sharing custom R-code to extract and visualise the results of the BayesTraits evolutionary rates analysis. We thank Ingmar Werneburg (Palaeontology Collection, T?bingen, Germany), Erin Maxwell (Staatliches Museum fu?r Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany) and Caroline Buttler (National Museum of Wales, UK) for facilitating access to fossil marine reptile specimens. We would also like to thank Neil Kelly, and an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments that helped improve this manuscript. S.G. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and the GW4+DTP (grant no. NE/L002434/1), with additional support from CASE partner National Museum of Wales; B.C.M. and T.L.S. are funded by NERC grant NE/P013724/1 and M.J.B by ERC grant 788203 (INNOVATION).

Publisher Copyright:
© 2022, The Author(s).

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 14 Life Below Water

Keywords

Animals
Biological Evolution
Body Size
Mammals
Reptiles/anatomy & histology
Swimming

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10.1038/s42003-022-03322-y

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Cite this

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title = "Large size in aquatic tetrapods compensates for high drag caused by extreme body proportions",

abstract = "Various Mesozoic marine reptile lineages evolved streamlined bodies and efficient lift-based swimming, as seen in modern aquatic mammals. Ichthyosaurs had low-drag bodies, akin to modern dolphins, but plesiosaurs were strikingly different, with long hydrofoil-like limbs and greatly variable neck and trunk proportions. Using computational fluid dynamics, we explore the effect of this extreme morphological variation. We find that, independently of their body fineness ratio, plesiosaurs produced more drag than ichthyosaurs and modern cetaceans of equal mass due to their large limbs, but these differences were not significant when body size was accounted for. Additionally, necks longer than twice the trunk length can substantially increase the cost of forward swimming, but this effect was cancelled out by the evolution of big trunks. Moreover, fast rates in the evolution of neck proportions in the long-necked elasmosaurs suggest that large trunks might have released the hydrodynamic constraints on necks thus allowing their extreme enlargement.",

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note = "Funding Information: We thank Imran Rahman (Natural History Museum, London), Stephan Lautenschlager (University of Birmingham) and Emily Rayfield (University of Bristol) for comments and discussions on early versions of this manuscript. We are grateful to Armin Elsler (University of Bristol) for sharing custom R-code to extract and visualise the results of the BayesTraits evolutionary rates analysis. We thank Ingmar Werneburg (Palaeontology Collection, T{\"u}bingen, Germany), Erin Maxwell (Staatliches Museum f{\"u}r Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany) and Caroline Buttler (National Museum of Wales, UK) for facilitating access to fossil marine reptile specimens. We would also like to thank Neil Kelly, and an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments that helped improve this manuscript. S.G. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and the GW4+DTP (grant no. NE/L002434/1), with additional support from CASE partner National Museum of Wales; B.C.M. and T.L.S. are funded by NERC grant NE/P013724/1 and M.J.B by ERC grant 788203 (INNOVATION). Funding Information: We thank Imran Rahman (Natural History Museum, London), Stephan Lautenschlager (University of Birmingham) and Emily Rayfield (University of Bristol) for comments and discussions on early versions of this manuscript. We are grateful to Armin Elsler (University of Bristol) for sharing custom R-code to extract and visualise the results of the BayesTraits evolutionary rates analysis. We thank Ingmar Werneburg (Palaeontology Collection, T?bingen, Germany), Erin Maxwell (Staatliches Museum fu?r Naturkunde Stuttgart, Germany) and Caroline Buttler (National Museum of Wales, UK) for facilitating access to fossil marine reptile specimens. We would also like to thank Neil Kelly, and an anonymous reviewer for constructive comments that helped improve this manuscript. S.G. was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council and the GW4+DTP (grant no. NE/L002434/1), with additional support from CASE partner National Museum of Wales; B.C.M. and T.L.S. are funded by NERC grant NE/P013724/1 and M.J.B by ERC grant 788203 (INNOVATION). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022, The Author(s).",

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N2 - Various Mesozoic marine reptile lineages evolved streamlined bodies and efficient lift-based swimming, as seen in modern aquatic mammals. Ichthyosaurs had low-drag bodies, akin to modern dolphins, but plesiosaurs were strikingly different, with long hydrofoil-like limbs and greatly variable neck and trunk proportions. Using computational fluid dynamics, we explore the effect of this extreme morphological variation. We find that, independently of their body fineness ratio, plesiosaurs produced more drag than ichthyosaurs and modern cetaceans of equal mass due to their large limbs, but these differences were not significant when body size was accounted for. Additionally, necks longer than twice the trunk length can substantially increase the cost of forward swimming, but this effect was cancelled out by the evolution of big trunks. Moreover, fast rates in the evolution of neck proportions in the long-necked elasmosaurs suggest that large trunks might have released the hydrodynamic constraints on necks thus allowing their extreme enlargement.

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KW - Biological Evolution

KW - Body Size

KW - Mammals

KW - Reptiles/anatomy & histology

KW - Swimming

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DO - 10.1038/s42003-022-03322-y

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Large size in aquatic tetrapods compensates for high drag caused by extreme body proportions

Abstract

Bibliographical note

UN SDGs

Keywords

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