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Vertebrate life began in the water, but around 340-360 million years ago, four-limbed creatures, or tetrapods, made the transition onto land. In the years that followed, some species adapted to terrestrial life, while others turned back to the water and readapted to an aquatic lifestyle.
A new study of these early amphibians, published in the journal
PLOS ONE and led by Penn paleontologist Aja Carter, suggests that these environmental shifts left an impression on the shape of the animals spines. I m interested in how the shapes of the vertebrae affect how animals move, she says. Our findings suggest that, in at least one part of the vertebrae, the shape of the bones correlated with the environment in which the animals were living. Those associations, Carter says, may be a result of the different physical demands of living on land versus in the water.