A Comparative Study of the Musculoskeletal Mechanics of BirdFlight

詹金斯博士的研究记录了鸟类飞行以前不为人知的方面。例如，八哥的叉骨看起来像一个弹簧，在下划时横向弯曲，在上划时后退以帮助肩膀后退。事实上，整个鸟类的肩部(即锁骨、肩胛骨、喙骨和相关的胸骨)在每次拍翼时都会经历相当戏剧性的偏移。此外，通过监测飞行肌肉的活动模式，研究人员开始了解个别肌肉对翼拍周期特定阶段的贡献。目前的研究方案旨在扩展和量化研究人员最初的观察结果，并对其他鸟类进行可比性研究，以探索飞行力学的可变性。

Dr. Jenkins' research has documented previously unknown aspects of bird flight. For example, the wishbone in starlings appears to act as a spring, bending laterally during downstroke and recoiling to assist shoulder retraction during upstroke. In fact, the entire avian shoulder (i.e., clavicles, scapulae, coracoids, and the associated sternum) undergoes a rather dramatic excursion during each wingbeat. In addition, by monitoring the activity patterns of flight muscles the researchers are beginning to understand the contribution of individual muscles to specific phases of the wingbeat cycle. The present research proposal is designed to extend and quantify the researchers' original observations and undertake comparable studies on other bird species to explore the variability of flight mechanics.