The effect of diet on bone shape in the mouse.

The effects of four deficient diets (oats, barley, wheat, buckwheat) on the shape of first and second cervical vertebrae and scapulae in C57BL mice have been measured using Fourier analysis. Bone shape was found to be robust, and only minimally affected by dietary change. The significance of this lack of change is discussed in the light of changes induced by diet in non-metrical variants in the skeleton. The study further emphasises the dangers of using certain non-metrical characters in taxonomic studies and indicates that the shapes of mouse bones are affected to a lesser degree by dietary influences than are the incidences of certain non-metrical character states.