Convergent evolution in locomotory patterns of flying and swimming animals

Abstract

Locomotion is one of the major energetic costs faced by animals and various strategies have evolved to reduce its cost. Birds use interspersed periods of flapping and gliding to reduce the mechanical requirements of level flight while undergoing cyclical changes in flight altitude, known as undulating flight. Here we equipped free-ranging marine vertebrates with accelerometers and demonstrate that gait patterns resembling undulating flight occur in four marine vertebrate species comprising sharks and pinnipeds. Both sharks and pinnipeds display intermittent gliding interspersed with powered locomotion. We suggest, that the convergent use of similar gait patterns by distinct groups of animals points to universal physical and physiological principles that operate beyond taxonomic limits and shape common solutions to increase energetic efficiency. Energetically expensive large-scale migrations performed by many vertebrates provide common selection pressure for efficient locomotion, with potential for the convergence of locomotory strategies by a wide variety of species.

Convergent Foraging Tactics of Marine Predators with Different Feeding Strategies across Heterogeneous Ocean Environments

“…A final interpretation is linked to a potential role of V-shaped dives in navigation through the detection of magnetic fields, or sensing different water masses for directional information (Klimley et al, 2002). Nevertheless, regardless of the functions proposed, this dive type was commonly performed by both blue and basking sharks, suggesting that it may be a ubiquitous search strategy exhibited by both epipelagic planktivores and macropredators (Gleiss et al, 2011a).…”

“…Linking movement patterns to habitat use remains, however, a challenging task. Detailed records of prey abundance and distribution and accurate indices of feeding are difficult to obtain for the majority of species and although visual assessment of prey capture is possible for some species (Seminoff et al, 2006;Elliott et al, 2008), in most cases, indirect parameters have been used as a proxy (e.g., gastric or visceral temperature changes, mouth/beak opening or head/jaw movement, accelerometer signatures; Sepulveda et al, 2004;Gleiss et al, 2011aGleiss et al, , 2013Nakamura et al, 2011Nakamura et al, , 2015Carroll et al, 2014;Nakamura and Sato, 2014). For efficient foraging by predators, patterns of habitat use are assumed to reflect the distribution, density and quality of prey resources (Stephens and Krebs, 1986;Austin et al, 2006;Carroll et al, 2017).…”

Key Questions in Marine Megafauna Movement Ecology

“…Energy expenditure derived from accelerometer data shows great promise for estimating the metabolic rate of free-living animals by providing a robust measure of activity (e.g. [84] but see [85]) allowing various models of optimal movement to be tested [7].…”

“…For example, we are now able to track and record the physiological state of animals as they travel across entire ocean basins or continents, fly over the highest mountains or dive from the surface to the ocean depths [3][4][5][6]. These types of studies have addressed holistic questions encompassing cross-taxa comparisons in both terrestrial and marine systems that have investigated how animals optimize their locomotion [7]; their search patterns for prey [8] and the factors that constrain their migration distances [9], dive performance [10] and swimming speed [11] ( Figure 2). …”

Skin, Kin and Clan: The dynamics of social categories in Indigenous Australia

“…180-92). Other examples include the independent development of echolocation in bats and toothed whales (Liu et al 2010); thunniform body types in lamnid sharks, tunas, ichthyosaurs and whales (Donley et al 2004); carrion and faecal scent mimicry in both angiosperm flowers and stinkhorn fungi (Johnson & Jürgens 2010); intermittent energy-reducing locomotory patterns in seals, sharks and migratory birds (Gleiss et al 2011); and light-skin pigmentation in both European and East-Asian humans (Norton et al 2007). tend to emanate unusual kin-based lexical and morphological structures. From an evolutionary standpoint, the flowering of specialist kin-based/ sociocentric lexicon and morphosyntax is absolutely what should be expected within an interactional ecology characterised by expansive networks of social relations and constraints on whether individuals can be referred to by name.…”