DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Effects of Ecology and Evolution on Avian Flight Morphology

论文研究：生态和进化对鸟类飞行形态的影响

• 批准号: 1311339
• 负责人: Christopher Witt
• 金额: $ 1.47万
• 依托单位: University of New Mexico
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2013-06-15 至 2015-05-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1311339&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: DISSERTATION; RESEARCH; Effects; Ecology; Evolution

Birds on small islands have smaller flight muscles and longer legs than their close relatives on larger islands. How do these differences affect function? Birds on small islands might experience less predation, and do not need to take off as rapidly. They are able to save energy by reducing the size of flight muscles, and the longer legs could compensate for smaller muscles during takeoff. This might lead to a slower overall takeoff for birds on small islands. This study aims to test these hypotheses about how differences among island populations affect takeoff. The take-off mechanics of five bird species on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago will be studied. A perch instrumented with strain gauges and a high-speed video camera will be used to measure force generated by the leg thrust as well as flight velocity, acceleration, and wing movements. These data will be used to calculate: (1) the timings of leg thrust, wingbeat, and peak acceleration; (2) total forces produced by the leg thrust; (3) velocities at the end of the leg thrust and of take-off; and (4) percent leg contribution to take-off velocity. This study aims to assess the functional consequences of island evolution and to test how small-island species differ functionally from their close relatives in ways that directly affect their abilities to compete and escape predators. These functional biomechanical differences might help explain why island species are so vulnerable to human disturbance and introduced species. This project will involve training undergraduate biology students in research skills.

与大岛上的近亲相比，小岛上的鸟类的飞行肌肉更小，腿更长。这些差异是如何影响功能的？小岛上的鸟类可能会经历较少的捕食，也不需要那么快地起飞。它们能够通过减小飞行肌肉的大小来节省能量，而较长的腿可以在起飞时弥补较小的肌肉。这可能会导致小岛上鸟类的整体起飞速度变慢。这项研究旨在检验这些假设，即岛上居民之间的差异如何影响起飞。将研究特立尼达和多巴哥群岛上五种鸟类的起飞机制。一个装有应变计和高速摄像机的栖息体将被用来测量腿部推力以及飞行速度、加速度和机翼运动产生的力。这些数据将被用来计算：(1)腿部推力、翼拍和峰值加速度的时间；(2)腿部推力产生的总力；(3)腿部推力和起跳结束时的速度；(4)腿部对起跳速度的贡献百分比。这项研究旨在评估岛屿进化的功能后果，并测试小岛屿物种在功能上与它们的近亲在直接影响它们竞争和躲避捕食者的能力方面的差异。这些功能上的生物力学差异可能有助于解释为什么海岛物种如此容易受到人类干扰和引入物种的影响。这个项目将包括培养本科生的研究技能。