Mechanical power output of bird flight

K. P. Dial (), A. A. Biewener, B. W. Tobalske and D. R. Warrick
Additional contact information
K. P. Dial: University of Montana
A. A. Biewener: University of Chicago
B. W. Tobalske: University of Montana
D. R. Warrick: University of Montana

Nature, 1997, vol. 390, issue 6655, 67-70

Abstract: Abstract Aerodynamic theory predicts that the power required for an animal to fly over a range of speeds is represented by a ‘U’-shaped curve, with the greatest power required at the slowest and fastest speeds, and minimum power at an intermediate speed1,2,3,4,5,6. Tests of these predictions, based on oxygen consumption measurements of metabolic power in birds7,8,9,10,11,12 and insects13, support a different interpretation, generating either flat or ‘J’-shaped power profiles, implying little additional demand between hovering and intermediate flight speeds14. However, respirometric techniques represent only an indirect assessment of the mechanical power requirements of flight and no previous avian study has investigated an animal's full range of attainable level flight speeds. Here we present data from in vivo bone-strain measurements of pectoralis muscle force coupled with wing kinematics in black-billed magpies (Pica pica ), which we use to calculate mechanical power directly. As these birds flew over their full range of speeds, we offer a complete profile of mechanical power output during level flapping flight for this species. Values of mechanical power output are statistically indistinguishable (that is, the power curve is flat) over most forward-flight speeds but are significantly higher during hovering and flight at very low speeds.

Date: 1997
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/36330 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:390:y:1997:i:6655:d:10.1038_36330

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/36330

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().