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Pickett HRW, Robinson RA, Nudds RL. Differential changes in the morphology and fuel loads of obligatory and partial migrant passerines over half a century in Britain. MOVEMENT ECOLOGY 2024; 12:60. [PMID: 39223685 PMCID: PMC11370066 DOI: 10.1186/s40462-024-00497-3] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/28/2024] [Accepted: 07/25/2024] [Indexed: 09/04/2024]
Abstract
Migratory distances and stopover locations are changing for many passerines in response to climate change. Morphological changes have been linked to rising global temperatures in both migrants and residents, but the implications of these changes on fuel loads, and associated flight ranges are little studied. Wing length and body mass changes between 1964 and 2020 were calculated for 15 migrant and partially migrant passerines in Britain. Changes in fuel load and lean body mass were also estimated and used to predict flight ranges. Twelve of the species have undergone morphological changes and eight species, estimated fuel load changes. Nine species were estimated to have reduced flight ranges, indicating that the morphological changes have not compensated fully for the reduction in flight range experienced since 1964. Partial migrants showed greater decreases in flight ranges than did full migrants, which may indicate greater behavioural plasticity in the former. Those species which do not adapt morphologically or behaviourally may be unable to complete long migrations, resulting in restriction to sub-optimal breeding/wintering habitats, or a need for a sooner first stop and more stops en route. This highlights the importance of conserving migratory stopover sites, particularly in the Mediterranean and North Africa that immediately precede major geographical barriers, as-well-as breeding and wintering grounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Holly R W Pickett
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK
| | - Robert A Robinson
- British Trust for Ornithology, The Nunnery, Thetford, Norfolk, IP24 2PU, UK
| | - Robert L Nudds
- School of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Oxford Rd, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK.
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2
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Chaitanya R, McGuire JA, Karanth P, Meiri S. Their fates intertwined: diversification patterns of the Asian gliding vertebrates may have been forged by dipterocarp trees. Proc Biol Sci 2023; 290:20231379. [PMID: 37583322 PMCID: PMC10427812 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1379] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/20/2023] [Accepted: 07/19/2023] [Indexed: 08/17/2023] Open
Abstract
The repeated evolution of gliding in diverse Asian vertebrate lineages is hypothesized to have been triggered by the dominance of tall dipterocarp trees in the tropical forests of Southeast Asia. These dipterocarp forests have acted as both centres of diversification and climatic refugia for gliding vertebrates, and support most of their extant diversity. We predict similarities in the diversification patterns of dipterocarp trees and gliding vertebrates, and specifically test whether episodic diversification events such as rate shifts and/or mass extinctions were temporally congruent in these groups. We analysed diversification patterns in reconstructed timetrees of Asian dipterocarps, the most speciose gliding vertebrates from different classes (Draco lizards, gliding frogs and Pteromyini squirrels) and compared them with similar-sized clades of non-gliding relatives (Diploderma lizards, Philautus frogs and Callosciurinae squirrels) from Southeast Asia. We found significant declines in net-diversification rates of dipterocarps and the gliding vertebrates during the Pliocene-Pleistocene, but not in the non-gliding groups. We conclude that the homogeneity and temporal coincidence of these rate declines point to a viable ecological correlation between dipterocarps and the gliding vertebrates. Further, we suggest that while the diversification decay in dipterocarps was precipitated by post-Miocene aridification of Asia, the crises in the gliding vertebrates were induced by both events concomitantly.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Jimmy A. McGuire
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Praveen Karanth
- Centre for Ecological Sciences, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, Karnataka 560012, India
| | - Shai Meiri
- School of Zoology, Tel Aviv University 6997801, Tel Aviv, Israel
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3
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Sathe EA, Chronister NJ, Dudley R. Incipient wing flapping enhances aerial performance of a robotic paravian model. BIOINSPIRATION & BIOMIMETICS 2023; 18:046017. [PMID: 37253379 DOI: 10.1088/1748-3190/acda03] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/15/2023] [Accepted: 05/30/2023] [Indexed: 06/01/2023]
Abstract
The functional origins of bird flight remain unresolved despite a diversity of hypothesized selective factors. Fossil taxa phylogenetically intermediate between typical theropod dinosaurs and modern birds exhibit dense aggregations of feathers on their forelimbs, and the evolving morphologies and kinematic activational patterns of these structures could have progressively enhanced aerodynamic force production over time. However, biomechanical functionality of flapping in such transitional structures is unknown. We evaluated a robot inspired by paravian morphology to model the effects of incremental increases in wing length, wingbeat frequency, and stroke amplitude on aerial performance. From a launch height of 2.8 m, wing elongation most strongly influenced distance travelled and time aloft for all frequency-amplitude combinations, although increased frequency and amplitude also enhanced performance. Furthermore, we found interaction effects among these three parameters such that when the wings were long, higher values of either wingbeat frequency or stroke amplitude synergistically improved performance. For launches from a height of 5.0 m, the effects of these flapping parameters appear to diminish such that only flapping at the highest frequency (5.7 Hz) and amplitude (60°) significantly increased performance. Our results suggest that a gliding animal at the physical scale relevant to bird flight origins, and with transitional wings, can improve aerodynamic performance via rudimentary wing flapping at relatively low frequencies and amplitudes. Such gains in horizontal translation and time aloft, as those found in this study, are likely to be advantageous for any taxon that engages in aerial behavior for purposes of transit or escape. This study thus demonstrates aerodynamic benefits of transition from a gliding stage to full-scale wing flapping in paravian taxa.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erik Andrew Sathe
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States of America
| | | | - Robert Dudley
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA, United States of America
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4
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Brualla NLM, Wilson LAB, Doube M, Carter RT, McElligott AG, Koyabu D. The vocal apparatus: An understudied tool to reconstruct the evolutionary history of echolocation in bats? J MAMM EVOL 2023. [DOI: 10.1007/s10914-022-09647-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/04/2023]
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5
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Easterling CM, Kolmann MA, O'Donnell MK. The Lesser-Known Transitions: Organismal Form and Function Across Abiotic Gradients. Integr Comp Biol 2022; 62:829-839. [PMID: 35927766 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icac133] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/01/2022] [Revised: 04/20/2022] [Accepted: 04/26/2022] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
From minute-to-minute changes, or across daily, seasonal, or geological timescales, animals are forced to navigate dynamic surroundings. Their abiotic environment is continually changing. These changes could include alterations to the substrates animals locomote on, flow dynamics of the microhabitats they feed in, or even altitudinal shifts over migration routes. The only constancy in any organism's day-to-day existence is the heterogeneity of the habitats they move through and the gradients in the physical media (e.g., air, water) they live in. We explored a broad range of organismal transitions across abiotic gradients and investigated how these organisms modify their form, function, and behavior to accommodate their surrounding media. We asked the following questions: (1) What are some challenges common to animals in changing media or moving between media? (2) What are common solutions to these recurring problems? (3) How often are these common solutions instances of either convergence or parallelism? Our symposium speakers explored these questions through critical analysis of numerous datasets spanning multiple taxa, timescales, and levels of analysis. After discussions with our speakers, we suggest that the role of physical principles (e.g., drag, gravity, buoyancy, viscosity) in constraining morphology and shaping the realized niche has been underappreciated. We recommend that investigations of these transitions and corresponding adaptations should include comparisons at multiple levels of biological organization and timescale. Relatedly, studies of organisms that undergo habitat and substrate changes over ontogeny would be worthwhile to include in comparisons. Future researchers should ideally complement lab-based morphological and kinematic studies with observational and experimental approaches in the field. Synthesis of the findings of our speakers across multiple study systems, timescales, and transitional habitats suggests that behavioral modification and exaptation of morphology play key roles in modulating novel transitions between substrates.
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Affiliation(s)
- C M Easterling
- Northwest University, Science Department, Kirkland, WA 98033
| | - M A Kolmann
- University of Michigan, Museum of Paleontology, Ann Arbor, MI 48109
| | - M K O'Donnell
- Lycoming College, Biology Department, Williamsport, PA 17701
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6
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Wang S, Ma Y, Wu Q, Wang M, Hu D, Sullivan C, Xu X. Digital restoration of the pectoral girdles of two Early Cretaceous birds, and implications for early flight evolution. eLife 2022; 11:76086. [PMID: 35356889 PMCID: PMC9023055 DOI: 10.7554/elife.76086] [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: 12/03/2021] [Accepted: 03/30/2022] [Indexed: 11/30/2022] Open
Abstract
The morphology of the pectoral girdle, the skeletal structure connecting the wing to the body, is a key determinant of flight capability, but in some respects is poorly known among stem birds. Here, the pectoral girdles of the Early Cretaceous birds Sapeornis and Piscivorenantiornis are reconstructed for the first time based on computed tomography and three-dimensional visualization, revealing key morphological details that are important for our understanding of early-flight evolution. Sapeornis exhibits a double articulation system (widely present in non-enantiornithine pennaraptoran theropods including crown birds), which involves, alongside the main scapula-coracoid joint, a small subsidiary joint, though variation exists with respect to the shape and size of the main and subsidiary articular contacts in non-enantiornithine pennaraptorans. This double articulation system contrasts with Piscivorenantiornis in which a spatially restricted scapula-coracoid joint is formed by a single set of opposing articular surfaces, a feature also present in other members of Enantiornithines, a major clade of stem birds known only from the Cretaceous. The unique single articulation system may reflect correspondingly unique flight behavior in enantiornithine birds, but this hypothesis requires further investigation from a functional perspective. Our renderings indicate that both Sapeornis and Piscivorenantiornis had a partially closed triosseal canal (a passage for muscle tendon that plays a key role in raising the wing), and our study suggests that this type of triosseal canal occurred in all known non-euornithine birds except Archaeopteryx, representing a transitional stage in flight apparatus evolution before the appearance of a fully closed bony triosseal canal as in modern birds. Our study reveals additional lineage-specific variations in pectoral girdle anatomy, as well as significant modification of the pectoral girdle along the line to crown birds. These modifications produced diverse pectoral girdle morphologies among Mesozoic birds, which allowed a commensurate range of capability levels and styles to emerge during the early evolution of flight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shiying Wang
- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Yubo Ma
- University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
| | - Qian Wu
- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Min Wang
- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Dongyu Hu
- Paleontological Museum of Liaoning, Shenyang Normal University, Shenyang, China
| | | | - Xing Xu
- Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
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7
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Sinnott‐Armstrong MA, Deanna R, Pretz C, Liu S, Harris JC, Dunbar‐Wallis A, Smith SD, Wheeler LC. How to approach the study of syndromes in macroevolution and ecology. Ecol Evol 2022; 12:e8583. [PMID: 35342598 PMCID: PMC8928880 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.8583] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/11/2021] [Revised: 12/23/2021] [Accepted: 12/31/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Syndromes, wherein multiple traits evolve convergently in response to a shared selective driver, form a central concept in ecology and evolution. Recent work has questioned the existence of some classic syndromes, such as pollination and seed dispersal syndromes. Here, we discuss some of the major issues that have afflicted research into syndromes in macroevolution and ecology. First, correlated evolution of traits and hypothesized selective drivers is often relied on as the only evidence for adaptation of those traits to those hypothesized drivers, without supporting evidence. Second, the selective driver is often inferred from a combination of traits without explicit testing. Third, researchers often measure traits that are easy for humans to observe rather than measuring traits that are suited to testing the hypothesis of adaptation. Finally, species are often chosen for study because of their striking phenotypes, which leads to the illusion of syndromes and divergence. We argue that these issues can be avoided by combining studies of trait variation across entire clades or communities with explicit tests of adaptive hypotheses and that taking this approach will lead to a better understanding of syndrome-like evolution and its drivers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Miranda A. Sinnott‐Armstrong
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
- Department of ChemistryUniversity of CambridgeCambridgeUK
| | - Rocio Deanna
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
- Instituto Multidisciplinario de Biología VegetalIMBIV (CONICET‐UNC)CórdobaArgentina
- Departamento de Ciencias FarmacéuticasFacultad de Ciencias Químicas (FCQ, UNC)CórdobaArgentina
| | - Chelsea Pretz
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
| | - Sukuan Liu
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
| | - Jesse C. Harris
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
| | - Amy Dunbar‐Wallis
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
| | - Stacey D. Smith
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
| | - Lucas C. Wheeler
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary BiologyUniversity of Colorado‐BoulderBoulderColoradoUSA
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8
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Macpherson MP, Jahn AE, Mason NA. Morphology of migration: associations between wing shape, bill morphology and migration in kingbirds (Tyrannus). Biol J Linn Soc Lond 2021. [DOI: 10.1093/biolinnean/blab123] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022]
Abstract
Abstract
Morphology is closely linked to locomotion and diet in animals. In animals that undertake long-distance migrations, limb morphology is under selection to maximize mobility and minimize energy expenditure. Migratory behaviours also interact with diet, such that migratory animals tend to be dietary generalists, whereas sedentary taxa tend to be dietary specialists. Despite a hypothesized link between migration status and morphology, phylogenetic comparative studies have yielded conflicting findings. We tested for evolutionary associations between migratory status and limb and bill morphology across kingbirds, a pan-American genus of birds with migratory, partially migratory and sedentary taxa. Migratory kingbirds had longer wings, in agreement with expectations that selection favours improved aerodynamics for long-distance migration. We also found an association between migratory status and bill shape, such that more migratory taxa had wider, deeper and shorter bills compared to sedentary taxa. However, there was no difference in intraspecific morphological variation among migrants, partial migrants and residents, suggesting that dietary specialization has evolved independently of migration strategy. The evolutionary links between migration, diet and morphology in kingbirds uncovered here further strengthen ecomorphological associations that underlie long-distance seasonal movements in animals.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maggie P Macpherson
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
- Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
| | - Alex E Jahn
- Departamento de Biodiversidade, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Av. 24a No. 1515, Rio Claro, Brazil
- Environmental Resilience Institute, Indiana University, 717 E 8th St., Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Nicholas A Mason
- Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA, USA
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9
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Cornelius Ruhs E, Becker DJ, Oakey SJ, Ogunsina O, Fenton MB, Simmons NB, Martin LB, Downs CJ. Body size affects immune cell proportions in birds and non-volant mammals, but not bats. J Exp Biol 2021; 224:269058. [PMID: 34104965 DOI: 10.1242/jeb.241109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/18/2020] [Accepted: 06/02/2021] [Indexed: 01/02/2023]
Abstract
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 probably 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 (neutrophils/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 suggests 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 the tolerance of (zoonotic) infections.
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Affiliation(s)
- Emily Cornelius Ruhs
- Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
| | - Daniel J Becker
- Department of Biology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA
| | - Samantha J Oakey
- Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
| | - Ololade Ogunsina
- Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
| | - M Brock Fenton
- Department of Biology, Western University, London, ON, Canada, N6A 5B7
| | - Nancy B Simmons
- Department of Mammalogy, Division of Vertebrate Zoology, American Museum of Natural History, New York, NY 10024-5102, USA
| | - Lynn B Martin
- Global Health and Infectious Disease Research, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA
| | - Cynthia J Downs
- Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY 13210, USA
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10
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Legendre LJ, Clarke JA. Shifts in eggshell thickness are related to changes in locomotor ecology in dinosaurs. Evolution 2021; 75:1415-1430. [PMID: 33913155 DOI: 10.1111/evo.14245] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/07/2020] [Revised: 03/13/2021] [Accepted: 04/21/2021] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
Birds share an array of unique characteristics among extant land vertebrates. Among these, external and microstructural characteristics of extant bird eggs have been linked to changes in reproductive strategy that arose among non-avian theropod dinosaurs. More recently, differences in egg proportions recovered in crown birds relative to other dinosaurs were suggested as possibly linked to avian flight, but dense sampling close to its proposed origin was lacking. Here we assess the evolution of eggshell thickness in a targeted sample of 114 dinosaurs including birds, and test the relationship of eggshell thickness with potential life history correlates and locomotor mode using phylogenetic comparative methods. Only egg mass and flight are identified as significant predictors of eggshell thickness. While a high correlation between egg mass and eggshell thickness is expected, that relationship is much stronger in flying taxa, which show a significantly higher slope and lower residual variance than flightless species. This suggests stabilizing selection of eggshell thickness among theropods, as recovered for other traits in extant birds (e.g. genome size, metabolic rate). Within living birds, Eufalconimorphae present an apomorphic increase in relative eggshell thickness which remains unexplained, as few morphological synapomorphies of this clade have been identified.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lucas J Legendre
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
| | - Julia A Clarke
- Department of Geological Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, USA
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11
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López‐Aguirre C, Wilson LAB, Koyabu D, Tu VT, Hand SJ. Variation in cross‐sectional shape and biomechanical properties of the bat humerus under Wolff's law. Anat Rec (Hoboken) 2021; 304:1937-1952. [DOI: 10.1002/ar.24620] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/27/2020] [Revised: 02/10/2021] [Accepted: 02/17/2021] [Indexed: 11/12/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Camilo López‐Aguirre
- Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
| | - Laura A. B. Wilson
- Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
- School of Archaeology and Anthropology, Australian National University Canberra ACT Australia
| | - Daisuke Koyabu
- Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong Kowloon Hong Kong
- Department of Molecular Craniofacial Embryology Tokyo Medical and Dental University Tokyo Japan
| | - Vuong Tan Tu
- Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology Hanoi Vietnam
- Graduate University of Science and Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology Hanoi Vietnam
| | - Suzanne J. Hand
- Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales Sydney New South Wales Australia
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12
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Heers AM, Varghese SL, Hatier LK, Cabrera JJ. Multiple Functional Solutions During Flightless to Flight-Capable Transitions. Front Ecol Evol 2021. [DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2020.573411] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
The evolution of avian flight is one of the great transformations in vertebrate history, marked by striking anatomical changes that presumably help meet the demands of aerial locomotion. These changes did not occur simultaneously, and are challenging to decipher. Although extinct theropods are most often compared to adult birds, studies show that developing birds can uniquely address certain challenges and provide powerful insights into the evolution of avian flight: unlike adults, immature birds have rudimentary, somewhat “dinosaur-like” flight apparatuses and can reveal relationships between form, function, performance, and behavior during flightless to flight-capable transitions. Here, we focus on the musculoskeletal apparatus and use CT scans coupled with a three-dimensional musculoskeletal modeling approach to analyze how ontogenetic changes in skeletal anatomy influence muscle size, leverage, orientation, and corresponding function during the development of flight in a precocial ground bird (Alectoris chukar). Our results demonstrate that immature and adult birds use different functional solutions to execute similar locomotor behaviors: in spite of dramatic changes in skeletal morphology, muscle paths and subsequent functions are largely maintained through ontogeny, because shifts in one bone are offset by changes in others. These findings help provide a viable mechanism for how extinct winged theropods with rudimentary pectoral skeletons might have achieved bird-like behaviors before acquiring fully bird-like anatomies. These findings also emphasize the importance of a holistic, whole-body perspective, and the need for extant validation of extinct behaviors and performance. As empirical studies on locomotor ontogeny accumulate, it is becoming apparent that traditional, isolated interpretations of skeletal anatomy mask the reality that integrated whole systems function in frequently unexpected yet effective ways. Collaborative and integrative efforts that address this challenge will surely strengthen our exploration of life and its evolutionary history.
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13
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López-Aguirre C, Hand SJ, Koyabu D, Tu VT, Wilson LAB. Phylogeny and foraging behaviour shape modular morphological variation in bat humeri. J Anat 2020; 238:1312-1329. [PMID: 33372711 DOI: 10.1111/joa.13380] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/16/2020] [Revised: 11/19/2020] [Accepted: 11/20/2020] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Bats show a remarkable ecological diversity that is reflected both in dietary and foraging guilds (FGs). Cranial ecomorphological adaptations linked to diet have been widely studied in bats, using a variety of anatomical, computational and mathematical approaches. However, foraging-related ecomorphological adaptations and the concordance between cranial and postcranial morphological adaptations remain unexamined in bats and limited to the interpretation of traditional aerodynamic properties of the wing (e.g. wing loading [WL] and aspect ratio [AR]). For this reason, the postcranial ecomorphological diversity in bats and its drivers remain understudied. Using 3D virtual modelling and geometric morphometrics (GMM), we explored the phylogenetic, ecological and biological drivers of humeral morphology in bats, evaluating the presence and magnitude of modularity and integration. To explore decoupled patterns of variation across the bone, we analysed whole-bone shape, diaphyseal and epiphyseal shape. We also tested whether traditional aerodynamic wing traits correlate with humeral shape. By studying 37 species from 20 families (covering all FGs and 85% of dietary guilds), we found similar patterns of variation in whole-bone and diaphyseal shape and unique variation patterns in epiphyseal shape. Phylogeny, diet and FG significantly correlated with shape variation at all levels, whereas size only had a significant effect on epiphyseal morphology. We found a significant phylogenetic signal in all levels of humeral shape. Epiphyseal shape significantly correlated with wing AR. Statistical support for a diaphyseal-epiphyseal modular partition of the humerus suggests a functional partition of shape variability. Our study is the first to show within-structure modular morphological variation in the appendicular skeleton of any living tetrapod. Our results suggest that diaphyseal shape correlates more with phylogeny, whereas epiphyseal shape correlates with diet and FG.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilo López-Aguirre
- Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Suzanne J Hand
- Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Daisuke Koyabu
- Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong.,Department of Molecular Craniofacial Embryology, Tokyo Medical and Dental University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Vuong Tan Tu
- Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam.,Graduate University of Science and Technology, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Laura A B Wilson
- Earth and Sustainability Science Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.,School of Archaeology & Anthropology, Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
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14
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Buttimer SM, Stepanova N, Womack MC. Evolution of the Unique Anuran Pelvic and Hind limb Skeleton in Relation to Microhabitat, Locomotor Mode, and Jump Performance. Integr Comp Biol 2020; 60:1330-1345. [PMID: 32437511 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icaa043] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/27/2022] Open
Abstract
Anurans (frogs and toads) have a unique pelvic and hind limb skeleton among tetrapods. Although their distinct body plan is primarily associated with saltation, anuran species vary in their primary locomotor mode (e.g., walkers, hoppers, jumpers, and swimmers) and are found in a wide array of microhabitats (e.g., burrowing, terrestrial, arboreal, and aquatic) with varying functional demands. Given their largely conserved body plan, morphological adaptation to these diverse niches likely results from more fine-scale morphological change. Our study determines how shape differences in Anura's unique pelvic and hind limb skeletal structures vary with microhabitat, locomotor mode, and jumping ability. Using microCT scans of preserved specimens from museum collections, we added 3D landmarks to the pelvic and hind limb skeleton of 230 anuran species. In addition, we compiled microhabitat and locomotor data from the literature for these species that span 52 of the 55 families of frogs and ∼210 million years of anuran evolution. Using this robust dataset, we examine the relationship between pelvic and hind limb morphology and phylogenetic history, allometry, microhabitat, and locomotor mode. We find pelvic and hind limb changes associated with shifts in microhabitat ("ecomorphs") and locomotor mode ("locomorphs") and directly relate those morphological changes to the jumping ability of individual species. We also reveal how individual bones vary in evolutionary rate and their association with phylogeny, body size, microhabitat, and locomotor mode. Our findings uncover previously undocumented morphological variation related to anuran ecological and locomotor diversification and link that variation to differences in jumping ability among species.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shannon M Buttimer
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California at Berkeley, 3101 Valley Life Sciences Building, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA
| | - Natasha Stepanova
- Department of Biology, Villanova University, 800 Lancaster Avenue, Villanova, PA 19085, USA
| | - Molly C Womack
- Department of Biology, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322, USA.,Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC 20560, USA
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15
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Brocklehurst RJ, Schachner ER, Codd JR, Sellers WI. Respiratory evolution in archosaurs. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190140. [PMID: 31928195 PMCID: PMC7017431 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0140] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/08/2023] Open
Abstract
The Archosauria are a highly successful group of vertebrates, and their evolution is marked by the appearance of diverse respiratory and metabolic strategies. This review examines respiratory function in living and fossil archosaurs, focusing on the anatomy and biomechanics of the respiratory system, and their physiological consequences. The first archosaurs shared a heterogeneously partitioned parabronchial lung with unidirectional air flow; from this common ancestral lung morphology, we trace the diverging respiratory designs of bird- and crocodilian-line archosaurs. We review the latest evidence of osteological correlates for lung structure and the presence and distribution of accessory air sacs, with a focus on the evolution of the avian lung-air sac system and the functional separation of gas exchange and ventilation. In addition, we discuss the evolution of ventilation mechanics across archosaurs, citing new biomechanical data from extant taxa and how this informs our reconstructions of fossils. This improved understanding of respiratory form and function should help to reconstruct key physiological parameters in fossil taxa. We highlight key events in archosaur evolution where respiratory physiology likely played a major role, such as their radiation at a time of relative hypoxia following the Permo-Triassic mass extinction, and their evolution of elevated metabolic rates. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Vertebrate palaeophysiology’.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert J Brocklehurst
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | - Emma R Schachner
- Department of Cell Biology and Anatomy, School of Medicine, Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center, New Orleans, LA 70112, USA
| | - Jonathan R Codd
- Faculty of Biology, Medicine and Health, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PT, UK
| | - William I Sellers
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
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16
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Hartman S, Mortimer M, Wahl WR, Lomax DR, Lippincott J, Lovelace DM. A new paravian dinosaur from the Late Jurassic of North America supports a late acquisition of avian flight. PeerJ 2019; 7:e7247. [PMID: 31333906 PMCID: PMC6626525 DOI: 10.7717/peerj.7247] [Citation(s) in RCA: 21] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/10/2018] [Accepted: 06/01/2019] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
The last two decades have seen a remarkable increase in the known diversity of basal avialans and their paravian relatives. The lack of resolution in the relationships of these groups combined with attributing the behavior of specialized taxa to the base of Paraves has clouded interpretations of the origin of avialan flight. Here, we describe Hesperornithoides miessleri gen. et sp. nov., a new paravian theropod from the Morrison Formation (Late Jurassic) of Wyoming, USA, represented by a single adult or subadult specimen comprising a partial, well-preserved skull and postcranial skeleton. Limb proportions firmly establish Hesperornithoides as occupying a terrestrial, non-volant lifestyle. Our phylogenetic analysis emphasizes extensive taxonomic sampling and robust character construction, recovering the new taxon most parsimoniously as a troodontid close to Daliansaurus, Xixiasaurus, and Sinusonasus. Multiple alternative paravian topologies have similar degrees of support, but proposals of basal paravian archaeopterygids, avialan microraptorians, and Rahonavis being closer to Pygostylia than archaeopterygids or unenlagiines are strongly rejected. All parsimonious results support the hypothesis that each early paravian clade was plesiomorphically flightless, raising the possibility that avian flight originated as late as the Late Jurassic or Early Cretaceous.
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Affiliation(s)
- Scott Hartman
- Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
| | | | | | - Dean R. Lomax
- School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
| | | | - David M. Lovelace
- University of Wisconsin Geology Museum, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI, USA
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17
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López-Aguirre C, Hand SJ, Koyabu D, Son NT, Wilson LAB. Postcranial heterochrony, modularity, integration and disparity in the prenatal ossification in bats (Chiroptera). BMC Evol Biol 2019; 19:75. [PMID: 30866800 PMCID: PMC6417144 DOI: 10.1186/s12862-019-1396-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 7] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/31/2018] [Accepted: 02/21/2019] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Self-powered flight is one of the most energy-intensive types of locomotion found in vertebrates. It is also associated with a range of extreme morpho-physiological adaptations that evolved independently in three different vertebrate groups. Considering that development acts as a bridge between the genotype and phenotype on which selection acts, studying the ossification of the postcranium can potentially illuminate our understanding of bat flight evolution. However, the ontogenetic basis of vertebrate flight remains largely understudied. Advances in quantitative analysis of sequence heterochrony and morphogenetic growth have created novel approaches to study the developmental basis of diversification and the evolvability of skeletal morphogenesis. Assessing the presence of ontogenetic disparity, integration and modularity from an evolutionary approach allows assessing whether flight may have resulted in evolutionary differences in the magnitude and mode of development in bats. RESULTS We quantitatively compared the prenatal ossification of the postcranium (24 bones) between bats (14 species), non-volant mammals (11 species) and birds (14 species), combining for the first time prenatal sequence heterochrony and developmental growth data. Sequence heterochrony was found across groups, showing that bat postcranial development shares patterns found in other flying vertebrates but also those in non-volant mammals. In bats, modularity was found as an axial-appendicular partition, resembling a mammalian pattern of developmental modularity and suggesting flight did not repattern prenatal postcranial covariance in bats. CONCLUSIONS Combining prenatal data from 14 bat species, this study represents the most comprehensive quantitative analysis of chiropteran ossification to date. Heterochrony between the wing and leg in bats could reflect functional needs of the newborn, rather than ecological aspects of the adult. Bats share similarities with birds in the development of structures involved in flight (i.e. handwing and sternum), suggesting that flight altriciality and early ossification of pedal phalanges and sternum are common across flying vertebrates. These results indicate that the developmental modularity found in bats facilitates intramodular phenotypic diversification of the skeleton. Integration and disparity increased across developmental time in bats. We also found a delay in the ossification of highly adaptable and evolvable regions (e.g. handwing and sternum) that are directly associated with flight performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Camilo López-Aguirre
- PANGEA Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia
| | - Suzanne J. Hand
- PANGEA Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia
| | - Daisuke Koyabu
- University Museum, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
- Department of Humanities and Sciences, Musashino Art University, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Nguyen Truong Son
- Department of Vertebrate Zoology, Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, Vietnam Academy of Sciences and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
- Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, Graduate University of Science and Technology, Hanoi, Vietnam
| | - Laura A. B. Wilson
- PANGEA Research Centre, School of Biological, Earth & Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052 Australia
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18
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Frongia GN, Muzzeddu M, Mereu P, Leoni G, Berlinguer F, Zedda M, Farina V, Satta V, Di Stefano M, Naitana S. Structural features of cross-sectional wing bones in the griffon vulture (Gyps fulvus)as a prediction of flight style. J Morphol 2018; 279:1753-1763. [DOI: 10.1002/jmor.20893] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/23/2018] [Revised: 07/18/2018] [Accepted: 08/05/2018] [Indexed: 11/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Gian N. Frongia
- Department of Veterinary Medicine; University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2; Sassari Italy
| | - Marco Muzzeddu
- Bonassai Breeding and Wildlife Recovery Center; Regional Forest Agency FoReSTAS, Viale Merello; Cagliari Italy
| | - Paolo Mereu
- Department of Biomedical Sciences; University of Sassari, Via Muroni; Sassari Italy
| | - Giovanni Leoni
- Department of Veterinary Medicine; University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2; Sassari Italy
| | - Fiammetta Berlinguer
- Department of Veterinary Medicine; University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2; Sassari Italy
| | - Marco Zedda
- Department of Veterinary Medicine; University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2; Sassari Italy
| | - Vittorio Farina
- Department of Veterinary Medicine; University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2; Sassari Italy
| | - Valentina Satta
- Department of Veterinary Medicine; University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2; Sassari Italy
| | - Marco Di Stefano
- Departments of Internal Medicine, Gerontology and Bone Metabolic Disease Section; Molinette Hospital, University of Turin, Corso Bramante; Turin Italy
| | - Salvatore Naitana
- Department of Veterinary Medicine; University of Sassari, Via Vienna 2; Sassari Italy
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19
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Lank DB, Xu C, Harrington BA, Morrison RIG, Gratto-Trevor CL, Hicklin PW, Sandercock BK, Smith PA, Kwon E, Rausch J, Pirie Dominix LD, Hamilton DJ, Paquet J, Bliss SE, Neima SG, Friis C, Flemming SA, Anderson AM, Ydenberg RC. Long-term continental changes in wing length, but not bill length, of a long-distance migratory shorebird. Ecol Evol 2017; 7:3243-3256. [PMID: 28480022 PMCID: PMC5415538 DOI: 10.1002/ece3.2898] [Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/26/2016] [Revised: 02/14/2017] [Accepted: 02/20/2017] [Indexed: 01/18/2023] Open
Abstract
We compiled a >50‐year record of morphometrics for semipalmated sandpipers (Calidris pusilla), a shorebird species with a Nearctic breeding distribution and intercontinental migration to South America. Our data included >57,000 individuals captured 1972–2015 at five breeding locations and three major stopover sites, plus 139 museum specimens collected in earlier decades. Wing length increased by ca. 1.5 mm (>1%) prior to 1980, followed by a decrease of 3.85 mm (nearly 4%) over the subsequent 35 years. This can account for previously reported changes in metrics at a migratory stopover site from 1985 to 2006. Wing length decreased at a rate of 1,098 darwins, or 0.176 haldanes, within the ranges of other field studies of phenotypic change. Bill length, in contrast, showed no consistent change over the full period of our study. Decreased body size as a universal response of animal populations to climate warming, and several other potential mechanisms, are unable to account for the increasing and decreasing wing length pattern observed. We propose that the post‐WWII near‐extirpation of falcon populations and their post‐1973 recovery driven by the widespread use and subsequent limitation on DDT in North America selected initially for greater flight efficiency and latterly for greater agility. This predation danger hypothesis accounts for many features of the morphometric data and deserves further investigation in this and other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- David B Lank
- Centre for Wildlife Ecology Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC Canada
| | - Cailin Xu
- Centre for Wildlife Ecology Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC Canada
| | | | - Richard I Guy Morrison
- National Wildlife Research Centre, Environment and Climate Change Canada Carleton University Ottawa ON Canada
| | - Cheri L Gratto-Trevor
- Prairie and Northern Wildlife Research Centre, Environment and Climate Change Canada Saskatoon SK Canada
| | - Peter W Hicklin
- Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada Sackville
NB Canada
| | | | - Paul Allen Smith
- National Wildlife Research Centre, Environment and Climate Change Canada Carleton University Ottawa ON Canada
| | - Eunbi Kwon
- Division of Biology Kansas State University Manhattan KS USA.,Present address: Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation Virginia Tech Blacksburg VA USA
| | - Jennie Rausch
- Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada Yellowknife NT Canada
| | - Lisa D Pirie Dominix
- Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada Iqaluit NU Canada
| | - Diana J Hamilton
- Department of Biology Mount Allison University Sackville NB Canada
| | - Julie Paquet
- Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada Sackville
NB Canada
| | - Sydney E Bliss
- Department of Biology Mount Allison University Sackville NB Canada
| | - Sarah G Neima
- Department of Biology Mount Allison University Sackville NB Canada
| | - Christian Friis
- Canadian Wildlife Service, Environment and Climate Change Canada Toronto ON Canada
| | - Scott A Flemming
- Environmental and Life Sciences Trent University Peterborough ON Canada
| | | | - Ronald C Ydenberg
- Centre for Wildlife Ecology Simon Fraser University Burnaby BC Canada
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20
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Chin DD, Lentink D. How birds direct impulse to minimize the energetic cost of foraging flight. SCIENCE ADVANCES 2017; 3:e1603041. [PMID: 28560342 PMCID: PMC5435416 DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.1603041] [Citation(s) in RCA: 18] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/02/2016] [Accepted: 03/15/2017] [Indexed: 06/07/2023]
Abstract
Birds frequently hop and fly between tree branches to forage. To determine the mechanical energy trade-offs of their bimodal locomotion, we rewarded four Pacific parrotlets with a seed for flying voluntarily between instrumented perches inside a new aerodynamic force platform. By integrating direct measurements of both leg and wing forces with kinematics in a bimodal long jump and flight model, we discovered that parrotlets direct their leg impulse to minimize the mechanical energy needed to forage over different distances and inclinations. The bimodal locomotion model further shows how even a small lift contribution from a single proto-wingbeat would have significantly lengthened the long jump of foraging arboreal dinosaurs. These avian bimodal locomotion strategies can also help robots traverse cluttered environments more effectively.
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21
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Frigot RA. Pelvic musculature of Vectidraco daisymorrisae and consequences for pterosaur locomotion. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2017. [DOI: 10.1144/sp455.7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/04/2022]
Abstract
AbstractThe unique morphology of pterosaurs makes them a compelling group to study, but the lack of ready analogues or descendant clades presents problems when inferring their biology and ecology. In this paper, the extant phylogenetic bracket is used to reconstruct the musculature of the pterosaur Vectidraco daisymorrisae and a detailed comparison is made between the musculature of this taxon and other reconstructions in the literature. M. iliofibularis is reconstructed as originating upon the angular process of the posterior iliac process, putting it into a mechanically advantageous position as an abductor. M. flexor tibialis internus is reconstructed as greatly enlarged over the ancestral state, probably in response to the reduction of M. caudofemoralis brevis and the tail. This enlargement is considered to correspond to the increasing role of M. flexor tibialis internus as a hip retractor.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rachel A. Frigot
- Center for Functional Anatomy and Evolution, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 1830 E Monument Street, Baltimore, MD 21202, USA
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22
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Heers AM. New Perspectives on the Ontogeny and Evolution of Avian Locomotion. Integr Comp Biol 2016; 56:428-41. [DOI: 10.1093/icb/icw065] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
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23
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Heers AM, Baier DB, Jackson BE, Dial KP. Flapping before Flight: High Resolution, Three-Dimensional Skeletal Kinematics of Wings and Legs during Avian Development. PLoS One 2016; 11:e0153446. [PMID: 27100994 PMCID: PMC4872793 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0153446] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/24/2015] [Accepted: 03/29/2016] [Indexed: 12/05/2022] Open
Abstract
Some of the greatest transformations in vertebrate history involve developmental
and evolutionary origins of avian flight. Flight is the most power-demanding
mode of locomotion, and volant adult birds have many anatomical features that
presumably help meet these demands. However, juvenile birds, like the first
winged dinosaurs, lack many hallmarks of advanced flight capacity. Instead of
large wings they have small “protowings”, and instead of robust, interlocking
forelimb skeletons their limbs are more gracile and their joints less
constrained. Such traits are often thought to preclude extinct theropods from
powered flight, yet young birds with similarly rudimentary anatomies flap-run up
slopes and even briefly fly, thereby challenging longstanding ideas on skeletal
and feather function in the theropod-avian lineage. Though skeletons and
feathers are the common link between extinct and extant theropods and figure
prominently in discussions on flight performance (extant birds) and flight
origins (extinct theropods), skeletal inter-workings are hidden from view and
their functional relationship with aerodynamically active wings is not known.
For the first time, we use X-ray Reconstruction of Moving Morphology to
visualize skeletal movement in developing birds, and explore how development of
the avian flight apparatus corresponds with ontogenetic trajectories in skeletal
kinematics, aerodynamic performance, and the locomotor transition from
pre-flight flapping behaviors to full flight capacity. Our findings reveal that
developing chukars (Alectoris chukar) with rudimentary flight
apparatuses acquire an “avian” flight stroke early in ontogeny, initially by
using their wings and legs cooperatively and, as they acquire flight capacity,
counteracting ontogenetic increases in aerodynamic output with greater skeletal
channelization. In conjunction with previous work, juvenile birds thereby
demonstrate that the initial function of developing wings is to enhance leg
performance, and that aerodynamically active, flapping wings might better be
viewed as adaptations or exaptations for enhancing leg performance.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ashley M. Heers
- Division of Paleontology, American Museum of Natural History, Central
Park West and 79 St., New York, New York 10024, United States of
America
- * E-mail:
| | - David B. Baier
- Department of Biology, Providence College, 1 Cunningham Square,
Providence, Rhode Island 02918, United States of America
| | - Brandon E. Jackson
- Biology and Environmental Sciences, Longwood University, 201 High St.,
Farmville, Virginia 23909, United States of America
| | - Kenneth P. Dial
- Division of Biological Sciences, University of Montana, 32 Campus Drive,
Missoula, Montana 59812, United States of America
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24
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Field DJ, Lynner C, Brown C, Darroch SAF. Skeletal correlates for body mass estimation in modern and fossil flying birds. PLoS One 2013; 8:e82000. [PMID: 24312392 PMCID: PMC3843728 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0082000] [Citation(s) in RCA: 64] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/30/2013] [Accepted: 10/20/2013] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Scaling relationships between skeletal dimensions and body mass in extant birds are often used to estimate body mass in fossil crown-group birds, as well as in stem-group avialans. However, useful statistical measurements for constraining the precision and accuracy of fossil mass estimates are rarely provided, which prevents the quantification of robust upper and lower bound body mass estimates for fossils. Here, we generate thirteen body mass correlations and associated measures of statistical robustness using a sample of 863 extant flying birds. By providing robust body mass regressions with upper- and lower-bound prediction intervals for individual skeletal elements, we address the longstanding problem of body mass estimation for highly fragmentary fossil birds. We demonstrate that the most precise proxy for estimating body mass in the overall dataset, measured both as coefficient determination of ordinary least squares regression and percent prediction error, is the maximum diameter of the coracoid’s humeral articulation facet (the glenoid). We further demonstrate that this result is consistent among the majority of investigated avian orders (10 out of 18). As a result, we suggest that, in the majority of cases, this proxy may provide the most accurate estimates of body mass for volant fossil birds. Additionally, by presenting statistical measurements of body mass prediction error for thirteen different body mass regressions, this study provides a much-needed quantitative framework for the accurate estimation of body mass and associated ecological correlates in fossil birds. The application of these regressions will enhance the precision and robustness of many mass-based inferences in future paleornithological studies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel J. Field
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
- * E-mail:
| | - Colton Lynner
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Christian Brown
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
| | - Simon A. F. Darroch
- Department of Geology and Geophysics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, United States of America
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25
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McGuire LP, Fenton MB, Guglielmo CG. Phenotypic flexibility in migrating bats: seasonal variation in body composition, organ sizes and fatty acid profiles. J Exp Biol 2013; 216:800-8. [DOI: 10.1242/jeb.072868] [Citation(s) in RCA: 41] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022]
Abstract
SUMMARY
Many species of bats migrate long distances, but the physiological challenges of migration are poorly understood. We tested the hypothesis that migration is physiologically demanding for bats by examining migration-related phenotypic flexibility. Both bats and birds are endothermic, flying vertebrates; therefore, we predicted that migration would result in similar physiological trade-offs. We compared hoary bats (Lasiurus cinereus) during spring migration and summer non-migratory periods, comparing our results with previous observations of birds. Migrating bats had reduced digestive organs, enlarged exercise organs, and fat stores had higher proportions of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs). These results are consistent with previous studies of migrating birds; however, we also found sex differences not typically associated with bird migration. Migrating female hoary bats increased the relative size of fat stores by reducing lean body components, while males maintained the same relative amount of fat in both seasons. The ratio of n-6 to n-3 PUFA in flight muscle membrane increased in migrating males and decreased in migrating females, consistent with males using torpor more frequently than females during spring migration. Enlarged exercise organs, reduced digestive organs and changes in adipose tissue composition reflect the elevated energetic demands of migration. Sex-specific patterns of fat storage and muscle membrane composition likely reflect challenges faced by females that migrate while pregnant. Our results provide some of the first insights into the physiological demands of bat migration and highlight key differences between bats and birds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liam P. McGuire
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street N., London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5B7
| | - M. Brock Fenton
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street N., London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5B7
| | - Christopher G. Guglielmo
- Department of Biology, University of Western Ontario, 1151 Richmond Street N., London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 5B7
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26
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Wang X, McGowan AJ, Dyke GJ. Avian wing proportions and flight styles: first step towards predicting the flight modes of mesozoic birds. PLoS One 2011; 6:e28672. [PMID: 22163324 PMCID: PMC3233598 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0028672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 30] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2011] [Accepted: 11/13/2011] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
We investigated the relationship between wing element proportions and flight mode in a dataset of living avian species to provide a framework for making basic estimates of the range of flight styles evolved by Mesozoic birds. Our results show that feather length (f(prim)) and total arm length (ta) (sum of the humerus, ulna and manus length) ratios differ significantly between four flight style groups defined and widely used for living birds and as a result are predictive for fossils. This was confirmed using multivariate ordination analyses, with four wing elements (humerus, ulna/radius, manus, primary feathers), that discriminate the four broad flight styles within living birds. Among the variables tested, manus length is closely correlated with wing size, yet is the poorest predictor for flight style, suggesting that the shape of the bones in the hand wing is most important in determining flight style. Wing bone thickness (shape) must vary with wing beat strength, with weaker forces requiring less bone. Finally, we show that by incorporating data from Mesozoic birds, multivariate ordination analyses can be used to predict the flight styles of fossils.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xia Wang
- School of Biology and Environmental Science, University College Dublin, Belfield Dublin, Ireland
| | - Alistair J. McGowan
- School of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Gareth J. Dyke
- School of Ocean and Earth Science, National Oceanography Centre, University of Southampton, Southampton, United Kingdom
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27
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Pigeons steer like helicopters and generate down- and upstroke lift during low speed turns. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2011; 108:19990-5. [PMID: 22123982 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1107519108] [Citation(s) in RCA: 59] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/18/2022] Open
Abstract
Turning is crucial for animals, particularly during predator-prey interactions and to avoid obstacles. For flying animals, turning consists of changes in (i) flight trajectory, or path of travel, and (ii) body orientation, or 3D angular position. Changes in flight trajectory can only be achieved by modulating aerodynamic forces relative to gravity. How birds coordinate aerodynamic force production relative to changes in body orientation during turns is key to understanding the control strategies used in avian maneuvering flight. We hypothesized that pigeons produce aerodynamic forces in a uniform direction relative to their bodies, requiring changes in body orientation to redirect those forces to turn. Using detailed 3D kinematics and body mass distributions, we examined net aerodynamic forces and body orientations in slowly flying pigeons (Columba livia) executing level 90° turns. The net aerodynamic force averaged over the downstroke was maintained in a fixed direction relative to the body throughout the turn, even though the body orientation of the birds varied substantially. Early in the turn, changes in body orientation primarily redirected the downstroke aerodynamic force, affecting the bird's flight trajectory. Subsequently, the pigeon mainly reacquired the body orientation used in forward flight without affecting its flight trajectory. Surprisingly, the pigeon's upstroke generated aerodynamic forces that were approximately 50% of those generated during the downstroke, nearly matching the relative upstroke forces produced by hummingbirds. Thus, pigeons achieve low speed turns much like helicopters, by using whole-body rotations to alter the direction of aerodynamic force production to change their flight trajectory.
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Dudley R, Yanoviak SP. Animal aloft: the origins of aerial behavior and flight. Integr Comp Biol 2011; 51:926-36. [PMID: 21558180 DOI: 10.1093/icb/icr002] [Citation(s) in RCA: 45] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/13/2022] Open
Abstract
Diverse taxa of animals exhibit remarkable aerial capacities, including jumping, mid-air righting, parachuting, gliding, landing, controlled maneuvers, and flapping flight. The origin of flapping wings in hexapods and in 3 separate lineages of vertebrates (pterosaurs, bats, and birds) greatly facilitated subsequent diversification of lineages, but both the paleobiological context and the possible selective pressures for the evolution of wings remain contentious. Larvae of various arboreal hemimetabolous insects, as well as many adult canopy ants, demonstrate the capacity for directed aerial descent in the absence of wings. Aerial control in the ancestrally wingless archaeognathans suggests that flight behavior preceded the origins of wings in hexapods. In evolutionary terms, the use of winglets and partial wings to effect aerial righting and maneuvers could select for enhanced appendicular motions, and ultimately lead to powered flight. Flight behaviors that involve neither flapping nor wings are likely to be much more widespread than is currently recognized. Further characterization of the sensory and biomechanical mechanisms used by these aerially capable taxa can potentially assist in reconstruction of ancestral winged morphologies and facilitate our understanding of the origins of flight.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Dudley
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
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Nudds RL, Dyke GJ. FORELIMB POSTURE IN DINOSAURS AND THE EVOLUTION OF THE AVIAN FLAPPING FLIGHT-STROKE. Evolution 2009; 63:994-1002. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1558-5646.2009.00613.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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HABIB MICHAELB, RUFF CHRISTOPHERB. The effects of locomotion on the structural characteristics of avian limb bones. Zool J Linn Soc 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.2008.00402.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 88] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
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RANDOLPH SARAHE. The relative timing of the origin of flight and endothermy: evidence from the comparative biology of birds and mammals. Zool J Linn Soc 2008. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1096-3642.1994.tb00327.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Dudley R, Byrnes G, Yanoviak SP, Borrell B, Brown RM, McGuire JA. Gliding and the Functional Origins of Flight: Biomechanical Novelty or Necessity? ANNUAL REVIEW OF ECOLOGY EVOLUTION AND SYSTEMATICS 2007. [DOI: 10.1146/annurev.ecolsys.37.091305.110014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 123] [Impact Index Per Article: 7.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Robert Dudley
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720;
| | - Greg Byrnes
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720;
| | - Stephen P. Yanoviak
- Department of Pathology, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas 77555, and Florida Medical Entomology Laboratory, Vero Beach, Florida 32962
| | - Brendan Borrell
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720;
| | - Rafe M. Brown
- Natural History Museum, Biodiversity Research Center, and Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Kansas, Lawrence, Kansas 66045
| | - Jimmy A. McGuire
- Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720;
- Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720
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Nudds RL, Dyke GJ, Rayner JMV. Avian brachial index and wing kinematics: putting movement back into bones. J Zool (1987) 2007. [DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-7998.2006.00261.x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 42] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/27/2022]
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Livezey BC. Evolution of Flightlessness in Rails (Gruiformes: Rallidae): Phylogenetic, Ecomorphological, and Ontogenetic Perspectives. ACTA ACUST UNITED AC 2003. [DOI: 10.2307/40168337] [Citation(s) in RCA: 23] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/20/2022]
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Abstract
Recent geophysical analyses suggest the presence of a late Paleozoic oxygen pulse beginning in the late Devonian and continuing through to the late Carboniferous. During this period, plant terrestrialization and global carbon deposition resulted in a dramatic increase in atmospheric oxygen levels, ultimately yielding concentrations potentially as high as 35% relative to the contemporary value of 21%. Such hyperoxia of the late Paleozoic atmosphere may have physiologically facilitated the initial evolution of insect flight metabolism. Widespread gigantism in late Paleozoic insects and other arthropods is also consistent with enhanced oxygen flux within diffusion-limited tracheal systems. Because total atmospheric pressure increases with increased oxygen partial pressure, concurrently hyperdense conditions would have augmented aerodynamic force production in early forms of flying insects. By the late Permian, evolution of decompositional microbial and fungal communities, together with disequilibrium in rates of carbon deposition, gradually reduced oxygen concentrations to values possibly as low as 15%. The disappearance of giant insects by the end of the Permian is consistent with extinction of these taxa for reasons of asphyxiation on a geological time scale. As with winged insects, the multiple historical origins of vertebrate flight in the late Jurassic and Cretaceous correlate temporally with periods of elevated atmospheric oxygen. Much discussion of flight performance in Archaeopteryx assumes a contemporary atmospheric composition. Elevated oxygen levels in the mid- to late Mesozoic would, however, have facilitated aerodynamic force production and enhanced muscle power output for ancestral birds, as well as for precursors to bats and pterosaurs.
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Affiliation(s)
- R Dudley
- Section of Integrative Biology, University of Texas, Austin 78712, USA.
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Poore SO, Sánchez-Haiman A, Goslow GE. Wing upstroke and the evolution of flapping flight. Nature 1997. [DOI: 10.1038/42930] [Citation(s) in RCA: 60] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
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Gaunt AS, Gans C. Variations in the distribution of motor end-plates in the avian pectoralis. J Morphol 1993; 215:65-88. [PMID: 29865426 DOI: 10.1002/jmor.1052150105] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/07/2022]
Abstract
Most avian muscles consist of serially arranged, overlapping fibers that do not extend the length of the muscle. This condition appears to be plesiomorphic with respect to diapsid reptiles. The presence of this serialfibered architecture is evidenced by bands of stained motor end-plates (meps) perpendicular to the columns of fibers and dividing each column into a series of "segments." The avian pectoralis was chosen for a study of variation in the distribution of meps within a single muscle. We report the interspecific variation for 158 specimens in 63 species. We also use additional specimens to examine intraspecific variation. Setting aside hummingbirds, which have an unique and clearly derived condition, the number of mep bands along a column of fibers near the shoulder falls within a remarkably small range. The number of segments is not obviously related to phylogenetic relatedness or to any characteristic of flight or ecology and is only slightly related to size. The largest specimens do average more segments per column, but there are no trends among small to medium-sized species, suggesting that there is an upper limit to fiber length. However, the shape of the sternum and pattern of connective tissue in the pectoralis alleviate the need for additional fibers in many large birds. These findings suggest that the architecture of the avian pectoralis is subject to some as yet unexplained selection that stabilizes the number of myofibers and/or motor neurons. The findings provide few clues as to whether the significant factors are phylogenetic, functional, ontogenetic, or some combination of these. © 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abbot S Gaunt
- Department of Zoology, Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 43210
| | - Carl Gans
- Department of Biology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109
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