Fonction biomécanique des microstructures osseuses chez les oiseaux

Here I present a short synthesis of recent studies on microscopic bone structure in extant birds. Using a statistical comparative approach, it has been shown that some bone tissue types observed may result from an optimisation of skeletal resistance to determinate mechanical loading, e.g. torsion occurring during flight. These new adaptive relationships between bone microstructure and the biomechanical function of the skeleton point toward unseen palaeobiological investigations of flight and its origin in vertebrates, through fossilized microstructure.