Fabio Alfieri

Universität Bern | UniBe · Institute of Ecology and Evolution

Background Biological adaptation manifests itself at the interface of different biologically relevant ‘levels’, such as ecology, performance, and morphology. Integrated studies at this interface are scarce due to practical difficulties in study design. We present a multilevel analysis, in which we combine evidence from habitat utilization, leaping...

Eco-morphological convergence, i.e., similar phenotypes evolved in ecologically convergent taxa, naturally reproduces a common-garden experiment since it allows researchers to keep ecological factors constant, studying intrinsic evolutionary drivers. The latter may result in differential evolvability that, among individual anatomical parts, causes...

Ecomorphological convergence occurs when similar morphological traits are independently evolved by species with the same lifestyle. Novel case studies can help to elucidate the underlying mechanisms of this process. This work addresses some convergent slow arboreal mammals, i.e. two lineages of ‘tree sloths’, the silky anteater, ‘Lorisidae’, two cl...

Identifying ecomorphological convergence examples is a central focus in evolutionary biology. In xenarthrans, slow arboreality independently arose at least three times, in the two genera of ‘tree sloths’, Bradypus and Choloepus, and the silky anteater, Cyclopes. This specialized locomotor ecology is expectedly reflected by distinctive morpho-functi...

Fluctuating Asymmetry (FA) in morphology is used as a proxy for developmental instability in response to stress factors. FA has important implications for understanding the impact of differential environments and stressors on the skeletal phenotype. Here, we explore FA in the mandibular morphology of wild and captive Macaca fuscata to detect differ...

Objectives The advent of micro‐computed tomography (μCT) made cancellous bone more accessible than ever before. Nevertheless, the characterization of cancellous bone is made difficult by its inherent complexity and the difficulties in defining homology across datasets. Here we propose novel virtual methodological approaches to overcome those issues...

Convergent evolution is a major topic in evolutionary biology. Low bone cortical compactness (CC, a measure of porosity of cortical bone) in the extant genera of ‘tree sloths’, has been linked to their convergent slow arboreal ecology. This proposed relationship of low CC with a slow arboreal lifestyle suggests potential convergent evolution of thi...

In this PhD work, various levels of bone organization are studied for a comprehensive understanding of the traits related to convergent evolution of slow arboreal locomotion. Within mammals, this behavior was independently acquired in at least six phylogenetically and geographically distant lineages: the two genera of Central-South American tree sl...

Within this study, for the first time the trabecular bone is analyzed in the distal epiphysis of the fibula, in an extant primate sample. The goal is to determine a relationship between locomotion behaviour (arboreal/terrestrial) and fibular trabecular morphology, by means of an evaluation of the adaptive response of trabecular bone to mechanical s...