When the computer scientist seeks to model natural phenomena, he or she may select from two paths. Modeling may be by representation or by realization. This distinction is clarified by means of a simple physical example: an adiabatic pressure vessel. A representational model will in no way involve the operation of such a vessel even as a real gas law is observed (like van der Waals’ gas law), w...

Branching patterns in the lichen family Cladoniaceae are varied and taxonomically important. Branching occurs on the podetium, the erect secondary thallus that characterizes most species in the Cladoniaceae, and is influenced by growth dynamics of the fungal meristem tissue at the apex of the podetium. Branching is primarily the result of meristem divisions, and branching patterns are modified ...

Assessments of temporal bone morphology have played an important role in taxonomic and phylogenetic evaluations of fossil taxa, and recent three-dimensional analyses of this region have supported the utility of the temporal bone for testing taxonomic and phylogenetic hypotheses. But while clinical analyses have examined aspects of temporal bone ontogeny in humans, the ontogeny of the temporal b...

Recent evaluation of Neanderthal and modern human ontogeny suggests that taxon-specific features arose very early in development in both lineages, with early, possibly prenatal, morphological divergence followed by parallel postnatal developmental patterns. Here we use morphometric techniques to compare hominoid facial growth patterns, and show that this developmental phenomenon is, in fact, no...

Front cover: Cover image: see E. Schachner et al., 'Anatomy, ontogeny, and evolution of the archosaurian respiratory system: a case study on Alligator mississippiensis Struthio camelus', this issue.

fish larvae have a high requirement of amino acid (aa) for energy production and growth. this study was aimed to increase knowledge of aa profile during feral carp larval ontogeny and estimate larval aa requirements. larvae were collected randomly at 1, 3, 7, 11, 15, 19, 26 and 33 days post hatch for growth and aa analysis. the composition of total aa changed significantly during ontogeny. the ...

[This corrects the article on p. 486 in vol. 5, PMID: 25346734.].

Zebrafish Danio rerio exhibit spontaneous, routine turns as part of their normal foraging behavior from the early free-swimming stage to adulthood. Given the importance of this behavior and its pervasiveness during zebrafish life history, the functional requirements of routine turning should play an important role in development. Conversely, the ontogeny of turning performance should reflect mo...

The molluscan shell can be viewed as a petrified representation of the organism's ontogeny and thus can be used as a record of changes in form during growth. However, little empirical data is available on the actual growth and form of shells, as these are hard to quantify and examine simultaneously. To address these issues, we studied the growth and form of a land snail that has an irregularly ...