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Susan H.
Williams, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Anatomy
Department of Biomedical Sciences
willias7@ohio.edu
121 Life Sciences Building
740-593-2363 |
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| Research
Interests and Projects |
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In its
most general sense, I am interested in how an animal's
anatomy and morphology reflect its behavior. In particular, I study the functional integration
and evolutionary morphology of feeding systems in
mammals, with a particular emphasis on mastication,
or chewing. Mastication is interesting because it involves highly coordinated activity
of the jaw muscles to ensure precise jaw movements
so that the teeth can occlude appropriately.
Moreover, mastication has had a significant influence
on the evolution of the mammalian head. Some of the
questions that I address in my research on mammalian
mastication are:
- What are the
mechanical effects of the muscle-bone interface?
- How do jaw
muscles function during mastication?
- How do jaw
muscles load the mandible?
- Is there a
consistent relationship between jaw-muscle
activity and mandibular loading patterns in
mammals?
- Does mandibular
morphology adequately reflect how the mandible
is loaded in vivo?
- How do food
mechanical properties influence jaw-muscle
activity?
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Within
this framework, I use both comparative morphometrics
and experimental methods (e.g., electromyography,
kinematics and bone strain) as a means to understand
masticatory function and to interpret the adaptive
significance of morphological variation among
species. Recently, I have focused primarily on
experimental methods as they are informative not
only about in vivo masticatory function and
behaviors, but also provide a strong basis for
inferring function from comparative studies of form.
Both lines of evidence, however, have been important
for understanding the comparative biomechanics and
evolutionary morphology of mammalian feeding. |
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Current
projects on mammalian feeding systems include:
- Mandibular bone
strain, jaw muscle activity and mandibular
morphology in selenodont artiodactyls and horses
- The ontogeny of
masticatory form and function in South American
camelids (e.g., llamas and alpacas)
- Jaw-muscle
activity in primates and the mechanical
properties of food
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Other recent projects include:
The relationship between tooth crown height and feeding ecology in ungulates and rodents (with Rich Kay, PhD)
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Williams, S. H. and R. F. Kay. 2001. A comparative test of adaptive explanations for hypsodonty
in ungulates and rodents. Journal of
Mammalian Evolution 8:207-229.
The biomechanics of gouging in gummivorous primates (with Chris Vinyard, PhD)
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Vinyard, C. J., C. E. Wall, S. H. Williams
and W. L. Hylander. 2003. A comparative
functional analysis of skull morphology of
tree-gouging primates. American Journal of
Physical Anthropology 120:153-170.
Williams, S. H., C. E. Wall, C. J. Vinyard and W. L. Hylander. 2002. A biomechanical analysis of skull form in gum-harvesting galagids. Folia Primatologica
73:197-209.
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