~ 375 million years ago, early tetrapods began transitioning from life in the water to life on land. To understand how they achieved this major transition, we study the fossil record and the diversity of living fishes. Here I’ll discuss two behaviors that are adaptations to life on land—walking and blinking—and how we are studying the origins of these behaviors to learn about joint mechanics and neural system evolution. These investigations help us to understand how functional innovations originate at evolutionary timescales and reveal new comparative systems for bio-inspired design.
Tom Stewart
Biology