Gliding saves time but not energy in Malayan colugos

Byrnes, Greg; Libby, Thomas; Lim, Norman; Spence, Andrew J.

doi:10.1242/jeb.052993

Cited by 31 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 37 publications

(51 reference statements)

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“…However, it should be remembered that such analyses have always been very challenging in free-ranging animals, and especially those that move over long periods and large spatial scales. Byrnes and colleagues (Byrnes et al, 2011), for example, effectively illustrated the power of ACC data recorded at 100Hz not only to identify climbing and gliding behaviors of free-ranging Malayan colugos, but also to quantify the climbing heights. However, such an application is naturally limited to relatively short times and small spatial scales, depends on physical retrieval of the data-loggers and requires complementary measurements of the horizontal component of movements.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using tri-axial acceleration data to identify behavioral modes of free-ranging animals: general concepts and tools illustrated for griffon vultures

Nathan

Spiegel

Fortmann-Roe

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

389

530

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Movement ecology and the integration of ecology, behavior and biomechanicsRecent advances in mechanistic modeling and tracking technology have enriched our capacity to disentangle the key parameters affecting movement processes and to characterize movement patterns accurately. These advances set the stage for integrating the four existing paradigms for studying movement -the random, biomechanical, cognitive and optimality approaches ( Fig.1) -in the form of a new cohesive 'movement ecology' framework . The biomechanical paradigm elucidates the machineries that enable individuals or propagules to move, including their physical mechanics, energetics and physiology, and thus focuses on the study of the motion capacity of individual organisms. The cognitive paradigm explores the mechanisms of gathering, processing and responding to the environment in a way that produces nonrandom movement in time and space and thus focuses on the navigation capacity of the individual. The optimality paradigm examines the relative efficacy of different movement strategies in optimizing some particular fitness currencies (e.g. energy gain or survival) over ecological or evolutionary timescales, and thus focuses mostly on the external factors affecting the internal state of the individual. The random paradigm analyzes the fit of observed animal tracks to various random walk models to assess, for example, search efficiency and thus focuses exclusively on the movement patterns. The movement ecology framework explicitly combines these basic components of movement and the links among them ( Fig.1) , which can be identified across all movement types and taxonomic groups . Thus, this framework offers a template for transdisciplinary integration of the four existing movement research paradigms ( Fig.1) to create jointly the new paradigm of movement ecology, devoted to the comprehensive study of all biological (whole-organism) movement phenomena. Movement ecology thus aims at unifying organismal movement research and aiding the development of a general theory of wholeorganism movements . To facilitate this unification, we need tools that can provide simultaneous information about the movement, energy expenditure and behavior of the studied organisms, and the environmental conditions they SummaryIntegrating biomechanics, behavior and ecology requires a mechanistic understanding of the processes producing the movement of animals. This calls for contemporaneous biomechanical, behavioral and environmental data along movement pathways. A recently formulated unifying movement ecology paradigm facilitates the integration of existing biomechanics, optimality, cognitive and random paradigms for studying movement. We focus on the use of tri-axial acceleration (ACC) data to identify behavioral modes of GPS-tracked free-ranging wild animals and demonstrate its application to study the movements of griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus, Hablizl 1783). In particular, we explore a selection of nonlinear and decision tree methods that include support vector mach...

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Using tri-axial acceleration data to identify behavioral modes of free-ranging animals: general concepts and tools illustrated for griffon vultures

Nathan

Spiegel

Fortmann-Roe

et al. 2012

Journal of Experimental Biology

389

530

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“…There have been two major efforts to record free-ranging gliders behaving under natural conditions. One on colugos used an accelerometer attached to the body to measure instantaneous acceleration throughout the glide (Byrnes et al 2011a, Byrnes et al 2008, Byrnes et al 2011b, and the other used high-speed cameras to track flying squirrels transiting to and from an artificial feeder ). Take-off has been examined in detail for snakes (Socha 2006) and mammals (Byrnes et al 2008, Essner 2002, Keith et al 2000, Paskins et al 2007) and landing has only been examined in mammals (Byrnes et al 2008, Paskins et al 2007).…”

Section: Terrestrial Vertebratesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Although many of the preceding scenarios have been noted in the literature, the ecological context of gliding has not been well quantified for most taxa, largely due to the logistical difficulty of tracking climbing and gliding animals (but see Byrnes et al 2011a, Byrnes et al 2008, Byrnes et al 2011b. The best understood systems are lizards of the genus Draco, mammalian colugos, and ants, which will be discussed in more detail in the taxon-specific sections.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

How animals glide: from trajectory to morphology

et al. 2015

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Animals that glide produce aerodynamic forces that enable transit through the air in both arboreal and aquatic environments. The relative ease of gliding compared with flapping flight has led to a large diversity of taxa that have evolved some degree of flight capability. Glide paths are curved, reflecting the changing forces on the animal as it progresses through its aerial trajectory. These changing forces can be under control of the glider, which uses specific aspects of anatomy to modulate lift, drag, and rotational moments on the body. However, gliders share no single anatomical or behavioral feature, and some species are unspecialized for gliding, producing aerodynamic forces using posture and orientation alone. Animals use gliding in a broad range of ecological roles, suggesting that multiple performance metrics are relevant for consideration, but we are only beginning to understand how gliders produce and control their flight from takeoff to landing. In this review, we focus on the physical aspects of how glide trajectories are produced, and additionally discuss the range of morphologies and postures that are used to control aerial movements across the broad diversity of animal gliders.

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“…Observations in Singapore showed that the diameter of trees used by colugos exceeded 45 cm (Byrnes et al 2008). Speed of vertical progression of colugos on tree trunks is about 1 m/s (Byrnes et al 2011).…”

Section: Climbing Up Trunksmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gliding leaps enable rapid movements for great distances and, even taking into account the time spent for climbing up the tree trunk, this locomotor pattern is more rapid than running from one tree to another along branches (Byrnes et al 2011). Moving by air between trees located at a considerable distance is not only faster, but also more economical and safer than running on the ground.…”

Section: Some Biological Aspects Of Colugos 207mentioning

confidence: 99%