How Cheap Is Soaring Flight in Raptors? A Preliminary Investigation in Freely-Flying Vultures
How Cheap Is Soaring Flight in Raptors? A Preliminary Investigation in Freely-Flying Vultures
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DOI：
10.1371/journal.pone.0084887
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发表时间：
2014-01-15
期刊：
影响因子：
3.7
通讯作者：
Ropert-Coudert, Yan
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Duriez, Olivier;Kato, Akiko;Ropert-Coudert, Yan
测量猛禽翱翔、滑翔和扑翼飞行的成本具有挑战性，但对于了解它们的生态至关重要。在猛禽中，秃鹫是食腐动物，已经进化出高效的滑翔飞行技术，以最大限度地减少能源成本，以寻找不可预测的食物资源。利用心电图仪、GPS和加速度计记录仪，对圈养的灰兀鹫（Gyps fulvus和G.为自由飞行而训练。与基线水平（80-100 bpm）相比，HR在起飞（以长时间扑翼飞行为特征）和着陆（>300次/分钟，（bpm））时增加了三倍。然而，在初始扑翼阶段后的10分钟内，在滑翔/滑翔飞行中的HR下降到与基线水平相似的值，即略低于理论预期。然而，与其他海洋滑翔机（如信天翁）相比，HR的急剧下降是出乎意料的。天气条件影响飞行性能和人力资源显着较高，在多云的阳光条件下相比，长时间的飙升飞行时，更容易由热上升的气流。翱翔作为一种廉价的运动模式，对于秃鹫来说是一种至关重要的适应，因为它们在飞行中花费了很长时间来进行大范围的运动以寻找食物。
Measuring the costs of soaring, gliding and flapping flight in raptors is challenging, but essential for understanding their ecology. Among raptors, vultures are scavengers that have evolved highly efficient soaring-gliding flight techniques to minimize energy costs to find unpredictable food resources. Using electrocardiogram, GPS and accelerometer bio-loggers, we report the heart rate (HR) of captive griffon vultures (Gyps fulvus and G. himalayensis) trained for freely-flying. HR increased three-fold at take-off (characterized by prolonged flapping flight) and landing (>300 beats-per-minute, (bpm)) compared to baseline levels (80-100 bpm). However, within 10 minutes after the initial flapping phase, HR in soaring/gliding flight dropped to values similar to baseline levels, i.e. slightly lower than theoretically expected. However, the extremely rapid decrease in HR was unexpected, when compared with other marine gliders, such as albatrosses. Weather conditions influenced flight performance and HR was noticeably higher during cloudy compared to sunny conditions when prolonged soaring flight is made easier by thermal ascending air currents. Soaring as a cheap locomotory mode is a crucial adaptation for vultures who spend so long on the wing for wide-ranging movements to find food.