Mechanisms of fuel use and water balance during flight and refueling in migratory birds and bats

在计划的五年资助期内，首席研究员、博士后、研究生和本科生将使用新的和独特的设备，在实验室和实地条件下探索候鸟和蝙蝠的生理、行为和生态。一个专门用于鸟类飞行研究的低压气候风洞将用于研究1)海拔高度如何影响飞行中的能量成本、气体交换、运动学、水平衡和燃料使用；2)饮食中的常量营养素（脂肪、碳水化合物和蛋白质）如何影响飞行过程中脂肪和蛋白质的相对利用；3)休息和飞行时的水分压力如何影响肌肉和器官等瘦身体成分的蛋白质分解代谢；4)耐力飞行对肾功能和排泄失水的影响；5)膳食多不饱和脂肪酸对耐力飞行性能和肌肉生化的影响；6)长时间的迁徙飞行对免疫能力的影响。还将研究迁徙蝙蝠的代谢燃料使用和肌肉生物化学的季节性变化。

Over the proposed five year grant period the principal investigator, post-docs, and graduate and undergraduate students will use new and unique facilities to explore the physiology, behaviour and ecology of migratory birds and bats under laboratory and field conditions. A hypobaric climatic wind tunnel specialized for bird flight studies will be used to investigate 1) how altitude affects energy costs, gas exchange, kinematics, water balance, and fuel use in flight; 2) how dietary macronutrients (fat, carbohydrate, and protein) influence the relative use of fat and protein during flight; 3) how water stress at rest and in flight affects the catabolism of protein from lean body components like muscles and organs; 4) the effects of endurance flight on kidney function and excretory water loss; 5) how dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids affect endurance flight performance and muscle biochemistry; and 6) how prolonged migratory flight affects immunocompetence. Metabolic fuel use and seasonal changes in muscle biochemistry of migrating bats will also be studied.