The recent trend in integrative biology has been to focus on theintegration of research at the sub-organismal level. And while thisno doubt offers researchers the opportunity to collaborate and com-bine resources enabling incredible discoveries with regard to thebuilding blocks of vertebrate life, it should not be forgotten thatthe majority of evolutionary processes occurs at the organismaland population level. In the end, the functional morphology of anorganism will impact its reproductive fitness and adaptive perfor-mance, thereby having the greatest impact on its evolution in theface of ecological changes.