Journal
NATURE
Volume 474, Issue 7352, Pages 494-497Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/nature10164
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Wellcome Trust
- Royal Society
- BBSRC
- EPSRC
- EPSRC [EP/H013016/1] Funding Source: UKRI
- Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council [EP/H013016/1] Funding Source: researchfish
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Flying birds often form flocks, with social(1), navigational(2) and antipredator(3) implications. Further, flying in a flock can result in aerodynamic benefits, thus reducing power requirements(4), as demonstrated by a reduction in heart rate and wingbeat frequency in pelicans flying in a V-formation(5). But how general is an aerodynamic power reduction due to group-flight? V-formation flocks are limited to moderately steady flight in relatively large birds, and may represent a special case. What are the aerodynamic consequences of flying in the more usual 'cluster'(6,7) flock? Here we use data from innovative back-mounted Global Positioning System (GPS) and 6-degrees-of-freedom inertial sensors to show that pigeons (1) maintain powered, banked turns like aircraft, imposing dorsal accelerations of up to 2g, effectively doubling body weight and quadrupling induced power requirements; (2) increase flap frequency with increases in all conventional aerodynamic power requirements; and (3) increase flap frequency when flying near, particularly behind, other birds. Therefore, unlike V-formation pelicans, pigeons do not gain an aerodynamic advantage from flying in a flock. Indeed, the increased flap frequency, whether due to direct aerodynamic interactions or requirements for increased stability or control, suggests a considerable energetic cost to flight in a tight cluster flock.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available