Cyclic vertebrate behaviors vary in their degree of rhythmicity–the degree if variation in cycle duration. The distribution of variation in rhythmicity provides insight into the evolution of neuromechanical systems. Starting with work with Anthony Herrel comparing chewing rhythmicity in mammals and lizards, we have worked with Nicolai Konow on chewing rhythmicity in fishes, and with Michael Granatosky on locomotor rhythmicity in mammals and birds, and on the role of dynamic instability in triggering gait transitions in tetrapods.  There is good evidence that rhythmicity varies across clades of vertebrates, that it may be related to the evolution of proprioceptors.

Related Publications

Chewing variation in lepidosaurs and primates
Ross, CF, Baden, AL, Georgi, JA, Herrel, A, Metzger, KA, Reed, DA, Schaerlaeken, V, Wolff, MS. Journal of Experimental Biology. 213: 572-584 (2010)

Evolution of locomotor rhythmicity in tetrapods
Ross, CF, Blob, RW, Carrier, D, Daley, MA, Deban, S, Demes, B, Gripper, J, Kilbourne, B, Iriarte-Diaz, J, Landberg, T, Polk, JD, Schilling, N, Vanhooydonck, B. Evolution. 67(4): 1209-1217 (2012) [DOI]

Got rhythm? Rhythmicity differences reflect different optimality criteria in feeding and locomotor systems
Faltings, L, Young, M, Ross, CF, Granatosky, MG. Evolution. (in press) (2022)

Inter-stride variability triggers gait transitions in mammals and birds
Granatosky, MC, Bryce, CM, Hanna, J, Fitzsimons, A, Laird, MF, Stilson, K, Wall, CE and Ross, CF. Proceedings of the Royal Society.. 285 (2018) [DOI]

Rhythmic chew cycles with distinct fast and slow phases are ancestral to gnathostomes
Brian A. Richard, Meghan Spence, Mateo Rull-Garza, Yonas Tolosa Roba, Daniel Schwarz, Jason B. Ramsay, J. D. Laurence-Chasen, Callum F. Ross, Nicolai Konow. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 378: 20220539. (2023) [PDF] [DOI]

Rhythmicity in teleost chewing: A comparison with amniotes
Gintof, C, Konow, N, Ross, CF, Sanford, CPJ. Journal of Experimental Biology. 213: 1868-1875. (2010)

Variation in limb loading magnitude and timing in tetrapods
Granatosky, MC, McElroy, E, Lemelin, P, Reilly, SM, Nyakatura, JA, Andrada, E, Kilbourne, BM, Allen, VR, Butcher, MT, Blob, RW, Ross, CF. Journal of Experimental Biology. 2020 223 (2020) [DOI]