Power and metabolic scope of bird flight: a phylogenetic analysis of biomechanical predictions
(2008) In Journal of Comparative Physiology A 194(7). p.685-691- Abstract
- For flying animals aerodynamic theory predicts that mechanical power required to fly scales as P proportional, variant m (7/6) in a series of isometric birds, and that the flight metabolic scope (P/BMR; BMR is basal metabolic rate) scales as P (scope) proportional, variant m (5/12). I tested these predictions by using phylogenetic independent contrasts from a set of 20 bird species, where flight metabolic rate was measured during laboratory conditions (mainly in wind tunnels). The body mass scaling exponent for P was 0.90, significantly lower than the predicted 7/6. This is partially due to the fact that real birds show an allometric scaling of wing span, which reduces flight cost. P (scope) was estimated using direct measurements of BMR... (More)
- For flying animals aerodynamic theory predicts that mechanical power required to fly scales as P proportional, variant m (7/6) in a series of isometric birds, and that the flight metabolic scope (P/BMR; BMR is basal metabolic rate) scales as P (scope) proportional, variant m (5/12). I tested these predictions by using phylogenetic independent contrasts from a set of 20 bird species, where flight metabolic rate was measured during laboratory conditions (mainly in wind tunnels). The body mass scaling exponent for P was 0.90, significantly lower than the predicted 7/6. This is partially due to the fact that real birds show an allometric scaling of wing span, which reduces flight cost. P (scope) was estimated using direct measurements of BMR in combination with allometric equations. The body mass scaling of P (scope) ranged between 0.31 and 0.51 for three data sets, respectively, and none differed significantly from the prediction of 5/12. Body mass scaling exponents of P (scope) differed significantly from 0 in all cases, and so P (scope) showed a positive body mass scaling in birds in accordance with the prediction. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1169350
- author
- Hedenström, Anders LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2008
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Bird flight energy cost - Metabolic scope - Aerodynamics - Phylogenetic contrasts - Scaling
- in
- Journal of Comparative Physiology A
- volume
- 194
- issue
- 7
- pages
- 685 - 691
- publisher
- Springer
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000257374400008
- scopus:46649109513
- pmid:18516606
- ISSN
- 1432-1351
- DOI
- 10.1007/s00359-008-0345-z
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- b3e68a2b-17e7-4a69-a91f-7bb67829eecd (old id 1169350)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 15:05:55
- date last changed
- 2024-04-25 08:48:43
@article{b3e68a2b-17e7-4a69-a91f-7bb67829eecd, abstract = {{For flying animals aerodynamic theory predicts that mechanical power required to fly scales as P proportional, variant m (7/6) in a series of isometric birds, and that the flight metabolic scope (P/BMR; BMR is basal metabolic rate) scales as P (scope) proportional, variant m (5/12). I tested these predictions by using phylogenetic independent contrasts from a set of 20 bird species, where flight metabolic rate was measured during laboratory conditions (mainly in wind tunnels). The body mass scaling exponent for P was 0.90, significantly lower than the predicted 7/6. This is partially due to the fact that real birds show an allometric scaling of wing span, which reduces flight cost. P (scope) was estimated using direct measurements of BMR in combination with allometric equations. The body mass scaling of P (scope) ranged between 0.31 and 0.51 for three data sets, respectively, and none differed significantly from the prediction of 5/12. Body mass scaling exponents of P (scope) differed significantly from 0 in all cases, and so P (scope) showed a positive body mass scaling in birds in accordance with the prediction.}}, author = {{Hedenström, Anders}}, issn = {{1432-1351}}, keywords = {{Bird flight energy cost - Metabolic scope - Aerodynamics - Phylogenetic contrasts - Scaling}}, language = {{eng}}, number = {{7}}, pages = {{685--691}}, publisher = {{Springer}}, series = {{Journal of Comparative Physiology A}}, title = {{Power and metabolic scope of bird flight: a phylogenetic analysis of biomechanical predictions}}, url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00359-008-0345-z}}, doi = {{10.1007/s00359-008-0345-z}}, volume = {{194}}, year = {{2008}}, }