RUI: Energetics and Biomechanics of Formation Swimming in Ducklings

众所周知，许多动物物种以有组织的队形旅行，如鱼群和迁徙的鹅的V形队形。人们认为，以这样的队形移动可能会在游泳或飞行时节省能量。这将使群体中的个别动物受益，因为它们可以比单独旅行时以更快的速度或更长的距离旅行。人类自行车手或赛车也出现了类似的情况，他们使用一种名为“吃法”的技术来提高燃油经济性和整体速度。过去测量动物编队的这种好处的尝试取得的成功有限，因为动物编队的大小和复杂性使研究人员无法直接测量编队旅行产生的任何能源经济性。该项目将尝试通过在绿头鸭身上进行队形游泳来衡量能源经济性。研究小鸭子的好处是，小鸭子以简单的直线队形游泳，而且队形足够小，很容易在实验室里研究。成群结队的印记小鸭子将被训练在跟随诱饵的水道中以不同的速度游泳。每只动物的能量消耗将通过操纵群体大小、是否有诱饵和小鸭子的年龄进行比较。代谢率，从耗氧量测量，将表明任何通过队形游泳的能量节约。同时，还将拍摄小鸭子划桨动作的详细录像。对这些运动的分析可以与水动力学模型一起使用来计算游泳过程中所消耗的能量，并确定队形中的特定位置是否提供了能量经济性。此外，还将进行实验，将染料注入小鸭子周围的水中，显示水流的模式。这可以提供对能源经济增长的物理原因的洞察。这项研究的结果将提供关于动物以队形移动时可以节省的能量范围的经验数据。

A number of animal species are known to travel in organized formations, such as fish schools and the V-shaped formations of migrating geese. It is believed that moving in such formation may allow energy conservation during swimming or flying. This would benefit individual animals in the group by allowing them to travel at higher speeds or over longer distances than if they traveled alone. A similar situation is observed for human cyclists or race cars which use a technique called "drafting" to increase fuel economy and overall speed. Past attempts to measure such benefits for animal formations have met with limited success, because the size and complexity of animal formations has prevented researchers from directly measuring any energy economy derived from formation travel. This project will attempt to measure energy economy by formation swimming in mallard ducklings. The advantages of studying ducklings are that ducklings swim in a simple, straight line formation, and the formation is small enough to be easily studied in the laboratory. Groups of imprinted ducklings will be trained to swim at various speeds in a water channel while following a decoy. Comparisons of energy expenditure per animal will be made by manipulating group size, presence or absence of decoy, and age of ducklings. The metabolic rate, measured from oxygen consumption, will indicate any energy economy by swimming in formation. Simultaneously, video recordings will be made to detail the paddling motions of the ducklings. Analysis of these motions can be used with a hydrodynamic model to compute the energy expended during swimming and to determine if particular positions in a formation provide energy economy. In addition, experiments will be conducted in which a dye injected into the water around the ducklings will show the pattern of water flow. This can provide insight into the physical causes for increased energy economy. The results of this study will provide empirical data as to the extent of energy that can be saved as animals move in formation.