Award details

Energy expenditure of muscles and other tissues during flight

Reference	BB/C503703/1
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Dr Graham Neil Askew
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors	Professor David Ellerby
Institution	University of Leeds
Department	Inst of Integrative & Comparative Biolog
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	234,672
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/04/2005
End date	31/01/2009
Duration	46 months

Abstract

Flight is one of the most energetically expensive modes of locomotion and there are few aspects of a bird¿s behaviour and physiology that are not affected by its demands. One of the most important outstanding problems in animal fight is the shape and magnitude of the power-speed curve, which expresses the relationship between power consumption and air speed for a flying animal. Accurate quantification of the metabolic cost of flight is important in understanding many aspects of the ecology and behaviour of a flying animal. For example, the estimation of daily energy demands, estimation of migratory flight ranges and understanding of migratory strategies, and formulating hypotheses abut the evolution of flight. Existing models are unable to accurately predict energy expenditure because of the lack of a direct indicator of muscle metabolic rate that can be reliably applied at the level of the individual muscle. A new technique, recently applied to terrestrial locomotion, uses blood flow as a proxy measure of energy expenditure. This approach will be used to quantify the energy expenditure of all the muscles used during flight over a range of speeds in doves, during which there is a fundamental shift in the aerodynamic function of the upstroke. The energy expenditure of individual muscles will be related to changes in wing kinematics and muscle function with flight speed. We will measure the energy expenditure of other non-muscular physiological systems (e.g. respiratory, circulatory osmoregulatory systems) to establish whether the cost varies with flight speed. An aerodynamic analysis will be carried out to calculate mechanical power and a new model developed that will relate metabolic and mechanical energy expenditure. The data obtained will provide a new level of understanding of energy expenditure in this diverse, and ecologically important group.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Closed Committee - Animal Sciences (AS)
Research Topics	X – not assigned to a current Research Topic
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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