Abstract：
A relationship exists between mechanical loading and bone morphology. Although studies show a relationship between trabecular bone morphology and locomotor strategy in mammals, none of them have studied trabecular bone morphology in felid species occupying disparate and overlapping habitats. We investigate trabecular bone volume fraction (BVF) in the femoral and humeral heads, and distal tibia of four felid species (mountain lions, jaguars, cheetahs, and leopards) to identify whether there is a relationship between BVF and locomotor behavior. This study\'s goals are to identify whether felid species with high daily travel distance or large home range size have greater BVF compared with those with small daily travel distance or home range size, and whether BVF is correlated among the three elements of the fore and hindlimb studied. We quantified BVF in micro- and peripheral computed tomography images and found no significant differences across species in the femoral and humeral head (p > 0.05). However, in the distal tibia, results showed that leopards, mountain lions, and cheetahs have significantly greater (p < 0.05) BVF than jaguars. Despite differences in home range size and daily travel distance, the proximal elements did not reflect differences in BVF; however, the distal-most element did, suggesting decreased loading among jaguars. These findings suggest that the observed pattern of trabecular bone morphology is potentially due to the diversity in locomotor strategy of the forelimb. Additionally, these results imply that neither home range size nor daily travel distance are clear indicators of activity levels. A cautious approach is warranted in studying how loading influences trabecular morphology.
摘要：
在机械载荷和骨形态之间存在关系。尽管研究表明哺乳动物骨小梁形态与运动策略之间存在关系,他们都没有研究过占据不同和重叠栖息地的猫科动物的小梁骨形态。我们调查股骨和肱骨头的骨小梁体积分数（BVF），和四种猫科动物的远端胫骨(山狮，美洲虎,猎豹,和豹子)来识别BVF和运动行为之间是否存在关系。这项研究的目标是确定与具有较小的日常旅行距离或家庭范围大小的物种相比，具有较高的日常旅行距离或家庭范围大小的物种是否具有更大的BVF，以及BVF在所研究的前肢和后肢三个元素之间是否相关。我们在显微和外周计算机断层扫描图像中量化了BVF，发现在股骨和肱骨头的物种之间没有显着差异（p>0.05）。然而,在胫骨远端,结果表明豹子,美洲狮,和猎豹的BVF显著高于美洲虎(p<0.05)。尽管家庭范围大小和日常旅行距离不同，近端元素没有反映BVF的差异；然而，最远端的元素，表明美洲虎的装载减少。这些发现表明，观察到的小梁骨形态模式可能是由于前肢运动策略的多样性。此外,这些结果表明,家庭范围大小和每日旅行距离都不是活动水平的明确指标.在研究负载如何影响小梁形态时，需要谨慎的方法。
