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Dickinson E, Young MW, DeLeon D, Bas B, Zou B, Ratkiewicz A, Beatty BL, Granatosky MC. Tail feather strength in tail-assisted climbing birds is achieved through geometric, not material change. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20222325. [PMID: 37161328 PMCID: PMC10170200 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2022.2325] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/17/2022] [Accepted: 04/18/2023] [Indexed: 05/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Birds encompass vast ecomorphological diversity and practise numerous distinct locomotor modes. One oft-cited feature seen in climbing birds is an increase in tail 'stiffness', yet it remains unclear to what extent these feathers are altered, and the specific mechanism by which differences in functional performance are attained. We collected a broad taxonomic sample of tail feathers (6525 total, from 774 species representing 21 avian orders and ranging in size from approximately 3 g to greater than 11 kg) and present data on their material properties, cross-sectional geometry and morphometrics. Ordinary and phylogenetic least-squares regressions of each variable versus body mass were conducted to assess scaling relationships and demonstrate that tail-supported climbers exhibit longer tail feathers with a wider rachis base and tip, and a greater second moment of area and maximum bending moment. However, no differences were observed in the material properties of the keratin itself. This suggests that tail-supported arboreal climbing birds of multiple orders have independently adopted similar morphologies. Moreover, these geometric relationships follow the same allometric scaling relationships as seen in the long bones of mammalian limbs, suggesting that the morphology of these developmentally and evolutionarily distinct structures are governed by similar functional constraints of weight support.
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Affiliation(s)
- Edwin Dickinson
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
| | - Melody W. Young
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
| | - David DeLeon
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
| | - Burcak Bas
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
| | - Bettina Zou
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
| | - Aleksandra Ratkiewicz
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
| | - Brian L. Beatty
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
- Department of Paleobiology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560, USA
| | - Michael C. Granatosky
- Department of Anatomy New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
- Center for Biomedical Innovation, New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, Old Westbury, NY 11568, USA
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2
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Lin PY, Huang PY, Lee YC, Ng CS. Analysis and comparison of protein secondary structures in the rachis of avian flight feathers. PeerJ 2022; 10:e12919. [PMID: 35251779 PMCID: PMC8893027 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.12919] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/29/2021] [Accepted: 01/20/2022] [Indexed: 01/11/2023] Open
Abstract
Avians have evolved many different modes of flying as well as various types of feathers for adapting to varied environments. However, the protein content and ratio of protein secondary structures (PSSs) in mature flight feathers are less understood. Further research is needed to understand the proportions of PSSs in feather shafts adapted to various flight modes in different avian species. Flight feathers were analyzed in chicken, mallard, sacred ibis, crested goshawk, collared scops owl, budgie, and zebra finch to investigate the PSSs that have evolved in the feather cortex and medulla by using nondestructive attenuated total reflection Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR). In addition, synchrotron radiation-based, Fourier transform infrared microspectroscopy (SR-FTIRM) was utilized to measure and analyze cross-sections of the feather shafts of seven bird species at a high lateral resolution to resolve the composition of proteins distributed within the sampled area of interest. In this study, significant amounts of α-keratin and collagen components were observed in flight feather shafts, suggesting that these proteins play significant roles in the mechanical strength of flight feathers. This investigation increases our understanding of adaptations to flight by elucidating the structural and mechanistic basis of the feather composition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Pin-Yen Lin
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Pei-Yu Huang
- National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan
| | - Yao-Chang Lee
- National Synchrotron Radiation Research Center, Hsinchu, Taiwan,Department of Optics and Photonics, National Central University, Chung-Li, Taoyuan, Taiwan
| | - Chen Siang Ng
- Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biology, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan,Department of Life Science, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan,Bioresource Conservation Research Center, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan,The iEGG and Animal Biotechnology Center, National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan
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Potential for Powered Flight Neared by Most Close Avialan Relatives, but Few Crossed Its Thresholds. Curr Biol 2020; 30:4033-4046.e8. [DOI: 10.1016/j.cub.2020.06.105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 35] [Impact Index Per Article: 8.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/02/2019] [Revised: 03/19/2020] [Accepted: 06/30/2020] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
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Osváth G, Vincze O, David DC, Nagy LJ, Lendvai ÁZ, Nudds RL, Pap PL. Morphological characterization of flight feather shafts in four bird species with different flight styles. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2020. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blaa108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/14/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Variation in rachis (central shaft) morphology in individual remiges (flight feathers) within and among species reflects adaptations to requirements imposed by aerodynamic forces, but the fine-scale variation of feather morphology across remiges is not well known. Here we describe how the shape of the rachis, expressed by the height/width ratio, changes along the longitudinal and lateral axis of the wing in four bird species with different flight styles: flapping-soaring (white storks), flapping-gliding (common buzzards), passerine-type (house sparrows) and continuous flapping (pygmy cormorants). Overall, in each wing feather, irrespective of species identity, rachis shape changed from circular to rectangular, from the base towards the feather tip. The ratio between the height and width of the calamus was similar across remiges in all species, whereas the ratio at the base, middle and tip of the rachis changed among flight feathers and species. In distal primaries of white storks and common buzzards, the ratio decreased along the feather shaft, indicating a depressed (wider than high) rachis cross section towards the feather tip, whereas the inner primaries and secondaries became compressed (higher than wide). In house sparrows, the rachis was compressed in each of the measurement points, except at the distal segment of the two outermost primary feathers. Finally, in pygmy cormorants, the width exceeds the height at each measurement point, except at the calamus. Our results may reflect the resistance of the rachis to in-plane and out-of-plane aerodynamic forces that vary across remiges and across study species. A link between rachis shape and resistance to bending from aerodynamic forces is further indicated by the change of the second moment of areas along the wing axes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gergely Osváth
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
- Museum of Zoology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Orsolya Vincze
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Department of Tisza Research, MTA Centre for Ecological Research-DRI, Debrecen, Hungary
| | - Dragomir-Cosmin David
- Department of Taxonomy and Ecology, Faculty of Biology and Geology, Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - László Jácint Nagy
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Ádám Z Lendvai
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
- Department of Geology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
| | - Robert L Nudds
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine & Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Péter L Pap
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
- Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Hungary
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Marmol-Guijarro A, Nudds R, Folkow L, Codd J. Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion. Front Zool 2020; 17:17. [PMID: 32514280 PMCID: PMC7254686 DOI: 10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/11/2020] [Accepted: 05/20/2020] [Indexed: 02/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Using Froude numbers (Fr) and relative stride length (stride length: hip height), trackways have been widely used to determine the speed and gait of an animal. This approach, however, is limited by the ability to estimate hip height accurately and by the lack of information related to the substrate properties when the tracks were made, in particular for extinct fauna. By studying the Svalbard ptarmigan moving on snow, we assessed the accuracy of trackway predictions from a species-specific model and two additional Fr based models by ground truthing data extracted from videos as the tracks were being made. Results The species-specific model accounted for more than 60% of the variability in speed for walking and aerial running, but only accounted for 19% when grounded running, likely due to its stabilizing role while moving faster over a changing substrate. The error in speed estimated was 0–35% for all gaits when using the species-specific model, whereas Fr based estimates produced errors up to 55%. The highest errors were associated with the walking gait. The transition between pendular to bouncing gaits fell close to the estimates using relative stride length described for other extant vertebrates. Conversely, the transition from grounded to aerial running appears to be species specific and highly dependent on posture and substrate. Conclusion Altogether, this study highlights that using trackways to derive predictions on the locomotor speed and gait, using stride length as the only predictor, are problematic as accurate predictions require information from the animal in question.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Robert Nudds
- Faculty of Biology, Medicine & Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Lars Folkow
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Jonathan Codd
- Faculty of Biology, Medicine & Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
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de la Hera I, Hernández-Téllez I, Pérez-Rigueiro J, Pérez-Tris J, Rojo FJ, Tellería JL. Mechanical and structural adaptations to migration in the flight feathers of a Palaearctic passerine. J Evol Biol 2020; 33:979-989. [PMID: 32282960 DOI: 10.1111/jeb.13630] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/18/2020] [Revised: 03/12/2020] [Accepted: 04/04/2020] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
Abstract
Current avian migration patterns in temperate regions have been developed during the glacial retreat and subsequent colonization of the ice-free areas during the Holocene. This process resulted in a geographic gradient of greater seasonality as latitude increased that favoured migration-related morphological and physiological (co)adaptations. Most evidence of avian morphological adaptations to migration comes from the analysis of variation in the length and shape of the wings, but the existence of intra-feather structural adjustments has been greatly overlooked despite their potential to be under natural selection. To shed some light on this question, we used data from European robins Erithacus rubecula overwintering in Campo de Gibraltar (Southern Iberia), where sedentary robins coexist during winter with conspecifics showing a broad range of breeding origins and, hence, migration distances. We explicitly explored how wing length and shape, as well as several functional (bending stiffness), developmental (feather growth rate) and structural (size and complexity of feather components) characteristics of flight feathers, varied in relation to migration distance, which was estimated from the hydrogen stable isotope ratios of the summer-produced tail feathers. Our results revealed that migration distance not only favoured longer and more concave wings, but also promoted primaries with a thicker dorsoventral rachis and shorter barb lengths, which, in turn, conferred more bending stiffness to these feathers. We suggest that these intra-feather structural adjustments could be an additional, largely unnoticed, adaptation within the avian migratory syndrome that might have the potential to evolve relatively quickly to facilitate the occupation of seasonal environments.
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Affiliation(s)
- Iván de la Hera
- Evolution and Conservation Biology Research Group, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain.,Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK, USA
| | - Irene Hernández-Téllez
- Evolution and Conservation Biology Research Group, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - José Pérez-Rigueiro
- Department of Materials Science, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | - Javier Pérez-Tris
- Evolution and Conservation Biology Research Group, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
| | | | - José Luis Tellería
- Evolution and Conservation Biology Research Group, Department of Biodiversity, Ecology and Evolution, Faculty of Biology, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid, Spain
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Carroll NR, Chiappe LM, Bottjer DJ. Mid-Cretaceous amber inclusions reveal morphogenesis of extinct rachis-dominated feathers. Sci Rep 2019; 9:18108. [PMID: 31792276 PMCID: PMC6889117 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-019-54429-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/12/2018] [Accepted: 11/11/2019] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
We describe three-dimensionally preserved feathers in mid-Cretaceous Burmese amber that share macro-morphological similarities (e.g., proportionally wide rachis with a "medial stripe") with lithic, two-dimensionally preserved rachis-dominated feathers, first recognized in the Jehol Biota. These feathers in amber reveal a unique ventrally concave and dorsoventrally thin rachis, and a dorsal groove (sometimes pigmented) that we identify as the "medial stripe" visible in many rachis-dominated rectrices of Mesozoic birds. The distally pennaceous portion of these feathers shows differentiated proximal and distal barbules, the latter with hooklets forming interlocking barbs. Micro-CT scans and transverse sections demonstrate the absence of histodifferentiated cortex and medullary pith of the rachis and barb rami. The highly differentiated barbules combined with the lack of obvious histodifferentiation of the barb rami or rachis suggests that these feathers could have been formed without the full suite and developmental interplay of intermediate filament alpha keratins and corneous beta-proteins that is employed in the cornification process of modern feathers. This study thus highlights how the development of these feathers might have differed from that of their modern counterparts, namely in the morphogenesis of the ventral components of the rachis and barb rami. We suggest that the concave ventral surface of the rachis of these Cretaceous feathers is not homologous with the ventral groove of modern rachises. Our study of these Burmese feathers also confirms previous claims, based on two-dimensional fossils, that they correspond to an extinct morphotype and it cautions about the common practice of extrapolating developmental aspects (and mechanical attributes) of modern feathers to those of stem birds (and their dinosaurian outgroups) because the latter need not to have developed through identical pathways.
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Affiliation(s)
- Nathan R Carroll
- The Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, USA.
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 90089-0740, USA.
| | - Luis M Chiappe
- The Dinosaur Institute, Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County, Los Angeles, CA, 90007, USA
| | - David J Bottjer
- Department of Earth Sciences, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California, 90089-0740, USA
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Pap PL, Vincze O, Vágási CI, Salamon Z, Pándi A, Bálint B, Nord A, Nudds RL, Osváth G. Vane macrostructure of primary feathers and its adaptations to flight in birds. Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2018. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/bly189] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Péter L Pap
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Egyetem tér, Hungary
- University of Colorado, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Boulder, CO, USA
| | - Orsolya Vincze
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Egyetem tér, Hungary
| | - Csongor I Vágási
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Egyetem tér, Hungary
| | - Zsuzsa Salamon
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
| | - Andrea Pándi
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
| | - Blanka Bálint
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
| | - Andreas Nord
- Department of Biology, Section for Evolutionary Ecology, Lund University, Lund, Sweden
- Department of Arctic and Marine Biology, Arctic Animal Physiology, Arktisk biologibygget, University of Tromsø, Tromsø, Norway
| | - Robert L Nudds
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine & Health, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Gergely Osváth
- Evolutionary Ecology Group, Hungarian Department of Biology and Ecology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
- Behavioural Ecology Research Group, Department of Evolutionary Zoology and Human Biology, University of Debrecen, Debrecen, Egyetem tér, Hungary
- Museum of Zoology, Babeş-Bolyai University, Romania
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