Handedness helps homing in swimming and flying animals.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Bandyopadhyay PR
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3553489 | biostudies-literature | 2013
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Which animals use their energy better during movement? One metric to answer this question is the energy cost per unit distance per unit weight. Prior data show that this metric decreases with mass, which is considered to imply that massive animals are more efficient. Although useful, this metric also implies that two dynamically equivalent animals of different sizes will not be considered equally efficient. We resolve this longstanding issue by first determining the scaling of energy cost per unit distance traveled. The scale is found to be M(2/3) or M(1/2), where M is the animal mass. Second, we introduce an energy-consumption coefficient (CE) defined as energy per unit distance traveled divided by this scale. CE is a measure of efficiency of swimming and flying, analogous to how drag coefficient quantifies aerodynamic drag on vehicles. Derivation of the energy-cost scale reveals that the assumption that undulatory swimmers spend energy to overcome drag in the direction of swimming is inappropriate. We derive allometric scalings that capture trends in data of swimming and flying animals over 10-20 orders of magnitude by mass. The energy-consumption coefficient reveals that swimmers beyond a critical mass, and most fliers are almost equally efficient as if they are dynamically equivalent; increasingly massive animals are not more efficient according to the proposed metric. Distinct allometric scalings are discovered for large and small swimmers. Flying animals are found to require relatively more energy compared with swimmers.
| S-EPMC4040623 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Many swimming and flying animals are observed to cruise in a narrow range of Strouhal numbers, where the Strouhal number [Formula: see text] is a dimensionless parameter that relates stroke frequency f, amplitude A, and forward speed U. Dolphins, sharks, bony fish, birds, bats, and insects typically cruise in the range [Formula: see text], which coincides with the Strouhal number range for maximum efficiency as found by experiments on heaving and pitching airfoils. It has therefore been postulated that natural selection has tuned animals to use this range of Strouhal numbers because it confers high efficiency, but the reason why this is so is still unclear. Here, by using simple scaling arguments, we argue that the Strouhal number for peak efficiency is largely determined by fluid drag on the fins and wings.
| S-EPMC6094110 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Flying insects constantly face the challenge of choosing efficient, safe and collision-free routes while navigating through dense foliage. We examined the route-choice behavior of foraging honeybees when they encountered a barrier which could be traversed by flying through one of two apertures, positioned side by side. When the bees' choice behavior was averaged over the entire tested population, the two apertures were chosen with equal frequency when they were equally wide. When the apertures were of different width, the bees, on average, showed a preference for the wider aperture, which increased sharply with the difference between the aperture widths. Thus, bees are able to discriminate the widths of oncoming gaps and choose the passage which is presumably safer and quicker to transit. Examination of the behavior of individual bees revealed that, when the two apertures were equally wide, ca. 55% of the bees displayed no side bias in their choices. However, the remaining 45% showed varying degrees of bias, with one half of them preferring the left-hand aperture, and the other half the right-hand aperture. The existence of distinct individual biases was confirmed by measuring the times required by biased bees to transit various aperture configurations: The transit time was longer if a bee's intrinsic bias forced it to engage with the narrower aperture. Our results show that, at the population level, bees do not exhibit 'handedness' in choosing routes; however, individual bees display an idiosyncratic bias that can range from a strong left bias, through zero bias, to a strong right bias. In honeybees, previous studies of olfactory and visual learning have demonstrated clear biases at the population level. To our knowledge, our study is the first to uncover the existence of individually distinct biases in honeybees. We also show how a distribution of biases among individual honeybees can be advantageous in facilitating rapid transit of a group of bees through a cluttered environment, without any centralized decision-making or control.
| S-EPMC5667806 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Waterfalls are conspicuous geomorphological features with heterogeneous structure, complex dynamics and multiphase flows. Swifts, dippers and starlings are well-known to nest behind waterfalls, and have been reported to fly through them. For smaller fliers, by contrast, waterfalls seem to represent impenetrable barriers, but associated physical constraints and the kinematic responses of volant animals during transit are unknown. Here, we describe the flight behaviour of hummingbirds (the sister group to the swifts) and of various insect taxa as they fly through an artificial sheet waterfall. We additionally launched plastic balls at different speeds at the waterfall so as to assess the inertial dependence of sheet penetration. Hummingbirds were able to penetrate the waterfall with reductions in both their translational speed, and stroke amplitude. The body tilted more vertically and exhibited greater rotations in roll, pitch and yaw, along with increases in tail spread and pitch. The much smaller plastic balls and some flies moving at speeds greater than 2.3 m s-1 and 1.6 m s-1, respectively, also overcame effects of surface tension and water momentum and passed through the waterfall; objects with lower momentum, by contrast, entered the sheet but then fell along with the moving water. Waterfalls can thus represent impenetrable physical barriers for small and slow animal fliers, and may also serve to exclude both predators and parasites from nests of some avian taxa.
| S-EPMC7481727 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Locomotion relies on the successful integration of sensory information to adjust brain commands and basic motor rhythms created by central pattern generators. It is not clearly understood how altering the sensory environment impacts control of locomotion. In an aquatic environment, mechanical sensory feedback to the animal can be readily altered by adjusting water viscosity. Computer modeling of fish swimming systems shows that, without sensory feedback, high viscosity systems dampen kinematic output despite similar motor control input. We recorded muscle activity and kinematics of six Polypterus senegalus in four different viscosities of water from 1 cP (normal water) to 40 cP. In high viscosity, P. senegalus exhibit increased body curvature, body wave speed, and body and pectoral fin frequency during swimming. These changes are the result of increased muscle activation intensity and maintain voluntary swimming speed. Unlike the sensory-deprived model, intact sensory feedback allows fish to adjust swimming motor control and kinematic output in high viscous water but maintain typical swimming coordination.
| S-EPMC8414443 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Mankind directly controls the environment and lifestyles of several domestic species for purposes ranging from production and research to conservation and companionship. These environments and lifestyles may not offer these animals the best quality of life. Behaviour is a direct reflection of how the animal is coping with its environment. Behavioural indicators are thus among the preferred parameters to assess welfare. However, behavioural recording (usually from video) can be very time consuming and the accuracy and reliability of the output rely on the experience and background of the observers. The outburst of new video technology and computer image processing gives the basis for promising solutions. In this pilot study, we present a new prototype software able to automatically infer the behaviour of dogs housed in kennels from 3D visual data and through structured machine learning frameworks. Depth information acquired through 3D features, body part detection and training are the key elements that allow the machine to recognise postures, trajectories inside the kennel and patterns of movement that can be later labelled at convenience. The main innovation of the software is its ability to automatically cluster frequently observed temporal patterns of movement without any pre-set ethogram. Conversely, when common patterns are defined through training, a deviation from normal behaviour in time or between individuals could be assessed. The software accuracy in correctly detecting the dogs' behaviour was checked through a validation process. An automatic behaviour recognition system, independent from human subjectivity, could add scientific knowledge on animals' quality of life in confinement as well as saving time and resources. This 3D framework was designed to be invariant to the dog's shape and size and could be extended to farm, laboratory and zoo quadrupeds in artificial housing. The computer vision technique applied to this software is innovative in non-human animal behaviour science. Further improvements and validation are needed, and future applications and limitations are discussed.
| S-EPMC4944961 | biostudies-literature
Project description:For animals that travel in groups, the directional choices of conspecifics are potentially a rich source of information for spatial learning. In this study, we investigate how the opportunity to follow a locally experienced demonstrator affects route learning by pigeons over repeated homing flights. This test of social influences on navigation takes advantage of the individually distinctive routes that pigeons establish when trained alone. We found that pigeons learn routes just as effectively while flying with a partner as control pigeons do while flying alone. However, rather than learning the exact route of the demonstrator, the paired routes shifted over repeated flights, which suggests that the birds with less local experience also took an active role in the navigational task. The efficiency of the original routes was a key factor in how far they shifted, with less efficient routes undergoing the greatest changes. In this context, inefficient routes are unlikely to be maintained through repeated rounds of social transmission, and instead more efficient routes are achieved because of the interaction between social learning and information pooling.
| S-EPMC3574437 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The mechanisms behind handedness formation in humans are still poorly understood. Very low birthweight is associated with higher odds of left-handedness, but whether this is due to low birthweight itself or premature birth is unknown. Handedness has also been linked to development, but the role of birthweight behind this association is unclear. Knowing that birthweight is lower in multiple births, triplets being about 1.5 kg lighter in comparison with singletons, and that multiples have a higher prevalence of left-handedness than singletons, we studied the association between birthweight and handedness in two large samples consisting exclusively of triplets from Japan (n = 1,305) and the Netherlands (n = 947). In both samples, left-handers had significantly lower birthweight (Japanese mean = 1,599 g [95% confidence interval (CI): 1,526-1,672 g]; Dutch mean = 1,794 g [95% CI: 1,709-1,879 g]) compared with right-handers (Japanese mean = 1,727 g [95% CI: 1,699-1,755 g]; Dutch mean = 1,903 g [95% CI: 1,867-1,938 g]). Within-family and between-family analyses both suggested that left-handedness is associated with lower birthweight, also when fully controlling for gestational age. Left-handers also had significantly delayed motor development and smaller infant head circumference compared with right-handers, but these associations diluted and became nonsignificant when controlling for birthweight. Our study in triplets provides evidence for the link between low birthweight and left-handedness. Our results also suggest that developmental differences between left- and right-handers are due to a shared etiology associated with low birthweight.
| S-EPMC6003315 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Although the left and right human cerebral hemispheres differ both functionally and anatomically, the mechanisms that underlie the establishment of these hemispheric specializations, as well as their physiological and behavioral implications, remain largely unknown. Since cerebral asymmetry is strongly correlated with handedness, and handedness is assumed to be influenced by a number of genetic and environmental factors, we performed an association study of LRRTM1 rs6733871 and a number of polymorphisms in PCSK6 and different aspects of handedness assessed with the Edinburgh handedness inventory in a sample of unrelated healthy adults (n = 1113). An intronic 33bp variable-number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in PCSK6 (rs10523972) shows a significant association (significance threshold: p<0.0025, adjusted for multiple comparisons) with a handedness category comparison (P = 0.0005) and degree of handedness (P = 0.001). These results provide further evidence for the role of PCSK6 as candidate for involvement in the biological mechanisms that underlie the establishment of normal brain lateralization and thus handedness and support the assumption that the degree of handedness, instead the direction, may be the more appropriate indicator of cerebral organization.
| S-EPMC3695088 | biostudies-literature
Project description:flying squirrel gut metagenome Raw sequence reads
| PRJNA428269 | ENA