CLIMBING PERFORMANCE OF MIGRATING BIRDS AS A BASIS FOR ESTIMATING LIMITS FOR FUEL-CARRYING CAPACITY AND MUSCLE WORK

1992 ◽  
Vol 164 (1) ◽  
pp. 19-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANDERS HEDENSTRÖM ◽  
THOMAS ALERSTAM

Sustained climb rates and airspeeds in flapping flight were measured by radar tracking fifteen species of migrating birds ranging in body mass between 10 g and 10 kg. There was an inverse correlation between body size and climb rate: the lowest mean climb rate, 0.32 m s−1, was observed in the mute swan and the highest mean value, 1.63ms−1, in the dunlin. Some dunlin flocks achieved sustained climb rates exceeding 2ms−1, up to 2.14ms−1. Assuming that the migrants expend maximum sustained power during their climbs, the climbing power can be used as a conservative estimate of the power margin. Estimates of climbing power for the species tracked by radar were used, in conjunction with aerodynamic theory, to calculate the amount of extra load the migrants should be able to carry if their power margin was used for load transportation rather than for climbing. Calculated ratios of total body mass with maximum load to lean body mass ranged between 1.28 and 2.75, showing an overall negative correlation with body size. There was a broad agreement with maximum fuel loads observed among freeliving birds, indicating that the upper limits of fuel-carrying capacities and flight ranges in migrating birds are determined by power margin constraints in sustained flapping flight. Markedly reduced climb rates have been recorded for shorebirds departing with very large fuel reserves from W. Africa and Iceland, supporting the calculated trade-off between climb rate and fuel load. Total power consumption was estimated as the sum of calculated aerodynamic power for forward flight and climbing power. The ratio of total power to the expected minimum aerodynamic power was 1.1-1.3 in the three largest species, increasing to 2–4 in the smallest species. Medium- and small-sized species seem to allocate power in excess of the minimum aerodynamic power not only for climbing but also for maintaining a forward speed faster than the minimum power speed. Given provisional estimates of flight muscle masses and wingbeat frequencies, the mass-specific sustained muscle work for the different climbing bird species was calculated to be in the range 16–41 joules per kilogram muscle mass, showing a significant positive correlation with body mass

1979 ◽  
Vol 80 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-54 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. M. V. RAYNER

The mechanics of lift and thrust generation by flying animals are studied by considering the distribution of vorticity in the wake. As wake generation is not continuous, the momentum jet theory, which has previously been used, is not satisfactory, and the vortex theory is a more realistic model. The vorticity shed by the wings in the course of each powered stroke deforms into a small-cored vortex ring; the wake is a chain of such rings. The momentum of each ring sustains and propels the animal; induced power is calculated as the rate of increase of wake kinetic energy. A further advantage of the vortex theory is that lift and induced drag coefficients are not required; estimated instantaneous values of these coefficients are generally too large for steady state aerodynamic theory to be appropriate to natural flapping flight. The vortex theory is applied to hovering of insects and to avian forward flight. A simple expression for induced power in hovering is found. Induced power is always greater than simple momentum jet estimates, and the discrepancy becomes substantial as body mass increases. In hovering the wake is composed of a stack of horizontal, coaxial, circular vortex rings. In forward flight of birds the rings are elliptic; they are neither horizontal nor coaxial because the momentum of each ring balances the vector sum of parasite and profile drag and the bird's weight. Total power consumption as a function of flight velocity is calculated and compared for several species. Power reduction is one of the major factors influencing the choice of flight style. A large body of data is used to obtain an approximate scaling between stroke period and the body mass for birds. Together with relations between other morphological parameters, this is used to estimate the variation of flight speed and power with body mass for birds, and on this basis deviations from allometric scaling can be related to flight proficiency and to the use of such strategies as the bounding flight of small passerines. Note: Present address: Department of Zoology, University of Bristol, Woodland Road, Bristol BS8 IUG, U.K.


2002 ◽  
Vol 205 (22) ◽  
pp. 3561-3569 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Hulbert ◽  
S. Faulks ◽  
W. A. Buttemer ◽  
P. L. Else

SUMMARYThe acyl composition of phospholipids from pectoral muscle of eight species of birds, ranging in size from the 13 g zebra finch to the 34 kg emu, were measured and combined with recent published results for a 3 g hummingbird. This represents an approximately 11000-fold range in body mass. Muscle phospholipids, and thus muscle membrane bilayers, from birds had a relatively constant unsaturated acyl chain content of 62% but exhibited a significant allometric decline in unsaturation index (number of double bonds per 100 acyl chains) with increasing body mass. There was a significant allometric increase in the percentage of mono-unsaturates and a significant allometric decline in the percentage of n-3 polyunsaturates with increasing body mass,whilst there were no significant allometric trends in either percentage of n-6 or percentage of total polyunsaturates in bird muscle. The relative content of the highly polyunsaturated docosahexaenoic acid (22:6 n-3) showed the greatest scaling with body mass, having an allometric exponent of -0.28. The contribution of this n-3 polyunsaturate to the unsaturation index varied with body size, ranging from less than a 6%contribution in the emu to approximately 70% in the hummingbird. Such allometric variation in the acyl composition of bird muscle phospholipids is similar to that observed in mammals, although birds have fewer n-3 polyunsaturates and more n-6 polyunsaturates than do mammalian phospholipids. This allometric variation in phospholipid acyl composition is discussed with respect to both the metabolic intensity and lifespan of different sized bird species.


Author(s):  
Emily Cornelius Ruhs ◽  
Daniel J. Becker ◽  
Samantha J. Oakey ◽  
Ololade Ogunsina ◽  
M. Brock Fenton ◽  
...  

Powered flight has evolved several times in vertebrates and constrains morphology and physiology in ways that likely have shaped how organisms cope with infections. Some of these constraints likely have impacts on aspects of immunology, such that larger fliers might prioritize risk reduction and safety. Addressing how the evolution of flight may have driven relationships between body size and immunity could be particularly informative for understanding the propensity of some taxa to harbor many virulent and sometimes zoonotic pathogens without showing clinical disease. Here, we used a comparative framework to quantify scaling relationships between body mass and the proportions of two types of white blood cells--lymphocytes, and granulocytes (neutr-/heterophils)--across 63 bat species, 400 bird species, and 251 non-volant mammal species. By using phylogenetically-informed statistical models on field-collected data from wild Neotropical bats and from captive bats, non-volant mammals and birds, we show that lymphocyte and neutrophil proportions do not vary systematically with body mass among bats. In contrast, larger birds and non-volant mammals have disproportionately higher granulocyte proportions than expected for their body size. Our inability to distinguish bat lymphocyte scaling from birds and bat granulocyte scaling from all other taxa suggest there may be other ecological explanations (i.e. not flight-related) for the cell proportion scaling patterns. Future comparative studies of wild bats, birds, and non-volant mammals of similar body mass should aim to further differentiate evolutionary effects and other aspects of life history on immune defense and its role in tolerance of (zoonotic) infections.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Cornelius Ruhs ◽  
Daniel J. Becker ◽  
Samantha J. Oakey ◽  
Ololade Ogunsina ◽  
M. Brock Fenton ◽  
...  

AbstractPowered flight has evolved several times in vertebrates and constrains morphology and physiology in ways that likely have shaped how organisms cope with infections. Some of these constraints likely have impacts on aspects of immunology, such that larger fliers might prioritize risk reduction and safety. Addressing how the evolution of flight may have driven relationships between body size and immunity could be particularly informative for understanding the propensity of some taxa to harbor many virulent and sometimes zoonotic pathogens without showing clinical disease. Here, we used a scaling framework to quantify scaling relationships between body mass and the proportions of two types of white blood cells--lymphocytes, and granulocytes (neutr-/heterophils)--across 60 bat species, 414 bird species, and 256 non-volant mammal species. By using phylogenetically-informed statistical models on field-collected data from wild Neotropical bats, data gleaned from other wild bats available in the literature, and data from captive non-volant mammals and birds, we show that lymphocyte and neutrophil proportions do not vary systematically with body mass among bats. In contrast, larger birds and non-volant mammals have disproportionately higher granulocyte proportions than expected for their body size. Future comparative studies of wild bats, birds, and non-volant mammals of similar body mass should aim to further differentiate evolutionary effects and other aspects of life history on immune defense.Summary statementPowered flight might constrain morphology such that certain immunological features are prioritized. We show that bats largely have similar cell proportions across body mass compared to strong allometric scaling relationships in birds and non-flying mammals.


2007 ◽  
Vol 23 (5) ◽  
pp. 581-590 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anjali Kumar ◽  
Sean O'Donnell

Army ants (Formicidae: Ecitoninae) are top predators in neotropical forests. Army ant raids support a community of diverse organisms, including birds that attend the raids to collect prey. While elevation and forest fragmentation influence army ant and insectivorous bird communities, their effects on the interaction between army ants and bird species is unknown. We studied the size and species composition of bird flocks attending army ant swarms in forest fragments and continuous forest across an elevational gradient (1100–1680 m asl) in a neotropical montane region (Monteverde, Costa Rica). We observed a total of 41 bird species attending army ant swarms. Neither the number of birds, nor the total body mass of birds, nor the number of bird species in attending bird flocks was related to elevation. However, we found a higher bird species richness, larger flock size and greater total body mass of birds attending army ant swarms in continuous forest. Continuous and fragmented forest shared many attending bird species in common, but there was elevational segregation of attending bird species. Some montane endemic birds, and neotropical migrants, attend swarms regularly and use army ant raids as a food source.


1996 ◽  
Vol 74 (9) ◽  
pp. 1617-1621 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick J. Weatherhead ◽  
Gregory P. Brown

Because variation in fat reserves (i.e., condition) is expected to contribute to variation in survival and reproductive success, zoologists often wish to estimate the condition of the animals they study. The conventional condition estimates used for snakes are the residuals from a regression of body mass on body length. Because this estimate of condition is not independent of the variables used to estimate it (i.e., fat is a component of body mass), estimates derived in this fashion will be confounded whenever fat varies nonrandomly with length. To avoid this problem we used total lipid extraction to estimate percent body fat in a representative sample of northern water snakes (Nerodia sipedon). The conventional condition index explained less than half the variance in the measured percent body fat in this sample. An improved estimate of condition calculated as the difference between total body mass and predicted lean mass (based on the results of the lipid extraction) explained 70% of the variation in percent body fat in the original sample of snakes. This improved estimate also revealed that condition declined with body size in a large sample of male water snakes measured in early spring over a 4-year period. This last result, coupled with theoretical expectations that condition will not vary randomly with body size in snakes, suggests that researchers interested in condition should derive indices from direct measurements of body fat.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (15) ◽  
pp. 6749
Author(s):  
Zhifeng Xie ◽  
Ao Wang ◽  
Zhuoran Liu

The cooling system is an important subsystem of an internal combustion engine, which plays a vital role in the engine’s dynamical characteristic, the fuel economy, and emission output performance at each speed and load. This paper proposes an economical and precise model for an electric cooling system, including the modeling of engine heat rejection, water jacket temperature, and other parts of the cooling system. This model ensures that the engine operates precisely at the designated temperature and the total power consumption of the cooling system takes the minimum value at some power proportion of fan and pump. Speed maps for the cooling fan and pump at different speeds and loads of engine are predicted, which can be stored in the electronic control unit (ECU). This model was validated on a single-cylinder diesel engine, called the DK32. Furthermore, it was used to tune the temperature of the water jacket precisely. The results show that in the common use case, the electric cooling system can save the power of 255 W in contrast with the mechanical cooling system, which is about 1.9% of the engine’s power output. In addition, the validation results of the DK32 engine meet the non-road mobile machinery China-IV emission standards.


Sensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (11) ◽  
pp. 3713
Author(s):  
Soyeon Lee ◽  
Bohyeok Jeong ◽  
Keunyeol Park ◽  
Minkyu Song ◽  
Soo Youn Kim

This paper presents a CMOS image sensor (CIS) with built-in lane detection computing circuits for automotive applications. We propose on-CIS processing with an edge detection mask used in the readout circuit of the conventional CIS structure for high-speed lane detection. Furthermore, the edge detection mask can detect the edges of slanting lanes to improve accuracy. A prototype of the proposed CIS was fabricated using a 110 nm CIS process. It has an image resolution of 160 (H) × 120 (V) and a frame rate of 113, and it occupies an area of 5900 μm × 5240 μm. A comparison of its lane detection accuracy with that of existing edge detection algorithms shows that it achieves an acceptable accuracy. Moreover, the total power consumption of the proposed CIS is 9.7 mW at pixel, analog, and digital supply voltages of 3.3, 3.3, and 1.5 V, respectively.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 3129
Author(s):  
Jewon Oh ◽  
Daisuke Sumiyoshi ◽  
Masatoshi Nishioka ◽  
Hyunbae Kim

The mass introduction of renewable energy is essential to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. We examined an operation method that combines the surplus energy of photovoltaic power generation using demand response (DR), which recognizes the balance between power supply and demand, with an aquifer heat storage system. In the case that predicts the occurrence of DR and performs DR storage and heat dissipation operation, the result was an operation that can suppress daytime power consumption without increasing total power consumption. Case 1-2, which performs nighttime heat storage operation for about 6 h, has become an operation that suppresses daytime power consumption by more than 60%. Furthermore, the increase in total power consumption was suppressed by combining DR heat storage operation. The long night heat storage operation did not use up the heat storage amount. Therefore, it is recommended to the heat storage operation at night as much as possible before DR occurs. In the target area of this study, the underground temperature was 19.1 °C, the room temperature during cooling was about 25 °C and groundwater could be used as the heat source. The aquifer thermal energy storage (ATES) system in this study uses three wells, and consists of a well that pumps groundwater, a heat storage well that stores heat and a well that used heat and then returns it. Care must be taken using such an operation method depending on the layer configuration.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document