Hidden diversity: comparative functional morphology of humans and other species

Erin A. McKenney, Amanda R. Hale, Janiaya Anderson, Roxanne Larsen, Colleen Grant, Robert R. Dunn

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

2 Scopus citations

Abstract

Gastrointestinal (GI) morphology plays an important role in nutrition, health, and epidemiology; yet limited data on GI variation have been collected since 1885. Here we demonstrate that students can collect reliable data sets on gut morphology; when they do, they reveal greater morphological variation for some structures in the GI tract than has been documented in the published literature. We discuss trait variability both within and among species, and the implications of that variability for evolution and epidemiology. Our results show that morphological variation in the GI tract is associated with each organ’s role in food processing. For example, the length of many structures was found to vary significantly with feeding strategy. Within species, the variability illustrated by the coefficients of variation suggests that selective constraints may vary with function. Within humans, we detected significant Pearson correlations between the volume of the liver and the length of the appendix (t-value = 2.5278, df = 28, p = 0.0174, corr = 0.4311) and colon (t-value = 2.0991, df = 19, p = 0.0494, corr = 0.4339), as well as between the lengths of the small intestine and colon (t-value = 2.1699, df = 17, p = 0.0445, corr = 0.4657), which are arguably the most vital organs in the gut for nutrient absorption. Notably, intraspecific variation in the small intestine can be associated with life history traits. In humans, females demonstrated consistently and significantly longer small intestines than males (t-value15 = 2.245, p = 0.0403). This finding supports the female canalization hypothesis, specifically, increased female investment in the digestion and absorption of lipids.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article numbere15148
JournalPeerJ
Volume11
DOIs
StatePublished - 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
This work was funded by NSF grant #1319293. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.

Publisher Copyright:
Copyright 2023 McKenney et al.

Keywords

  • Anatomy
  • Comparative variation
  • Dissection
  • Gastrointestinal morphology
  • Human variation

PubMed: MeSH publication types

  • Journal Article
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

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