Coiling in gastropods: a lead to synthesis

Biological structures lie at intersections of function, construction and history. Conversely, the geometry of structures modulates how these three aspects of organic form manifest in different taxonomic groups and ecological circumstances, raising challenges to causal inferences. Here, I apply the familiar logarithmic helicospiral (logspiral) model for coiled shells, to assess its fit to data on gastropod shells and to study allometry, covariation and constraint in coiling behavior, in light of adaptationist and proximate mechanistic explanations. I derive convenient expressions for the three-way relation between expansion rate, apical angle and downward lead angle of spiral paths on shells. Combining several published datasets, I demonstrate that centerline spirals of gastropod shells are well-approximated by isometrically growing conical logspirals. Allometry manifests in the relative growth of apertures. Derived expressions also impose underappreciated covariation in coiling parameters. Specifically, I show that the inverse relation between spire-height and expansion rate, usually attributed to economical and mechanical demands, can equally be explained by taxon-specific lead angles and variation in growth (shell expansion). I further discuss my results in the context of two recently suggested mechanistic drivers of coiling — mismatch of shell and soft-body growth, or differential rates and directions of cellular processes at the mantle edge. More generally, geometry dictates particular “laws of form” for biological structures that have practical use in data analyses and integration and that need to be fully acknowledged when seeking causal adaptationist or mechanistic explanations.