Data from: Turbulence causes kinematic and behavioural adjustments in a flapping flier

Lempidakis E, Ross AN, Quetting M, Krishnan K, Garde B, Wikelski M, Shepard ELC. 2024. Data from: Turbulence causes kinematic and behavioural adjustments in a flapping flier. Movebank Data Repository. https://doi.org/10.5441/001/1.284

Abstract

Turbulence is a widespread phenomenon in the natural world, but its influence on flapping fliers remains little studied. We assessed how freestream turbulence affected the kinematics, flight effort, and track properties of homing pigeons (Columba livia), using the fine-scale variations in flight height as a proxy for turbulence levels. Birds showed a small increase in their wingbeat amplitude with increasing turbulence (similar to laboratory studies), but this was accompanied by a reduction in mean wingbeat frequency, such that their flapping wing speed remained the same. Mean kinematic responses to turbulence may therefore enable birds to increase their stability without a reduction in propulsive efficiency. Nonetheless, the most marked response to turbulence was an increase in the variability of wingbeat frequency and amplitude. These stroke-to-stroke changes in kinematics provide instantaneous compensation for turbulence. They will also increase flight costs. Yet pigeons only made small adjustments to their flight altitude, likely resulting in little change in exposure to strong convective turbulence. Responses to turbulence were therefore distinct from responses to wind, with the costs of high turbulence being levied through an increase in the variability of their kinematics and airspeed. This highlights the value of investigating the variability in flight parameters in free-living animals.

Keywords

Columba livia,animal behavior,animal movement,animal tracking,bio-logging,flapping flight,GPS logger,homing pigeon

Taxa

Taxon

Columba livia

Common Pigeon, Rock Dove, Rock Pigeon

Sensors

Sensor

Barometer

Sensor

Acceleration

Sensor

GPS

DOIs of related Publications

https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2023.0591

URI

https://datarepository.movebank.org/handle/10255/move.1643

BibTex

@misc{001/1_284,
  title = {Data from: Turbulence causes kinematic and behavioural adjustments in a flapping flier},
  author = {Lempidakis, E and Ross, AN and Quetting, M and Krishnan, K and Garde, B and Wikelski, M and Shepard, ELC},
  year = {2024},
  URL = {http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.284},
  doi = {doi:10.5441/001/1.284},
  publisher = {Movebank data repository}
}

RIS

TY  - DATA
ID  - doi:10.5441/001/1.284
T1  - Data from: Turbulence causes kinematic and behavioural adjustments in a flapping flier
AU  - Lempidakis, Emmanouil
AU  - Ross, Andrew N.
AU  - Quetting, Michael
AU  - Krishnan, Krishnamoorthy
AU  - Garde, Baptiste
AU  - Wikelski, Martin
AU  - Shepard, Emily L.C.
Y1  - 2024/02/20
KW  - Columba livia
KW  - accelerometer
KW  - animal behavior
KW  - animal movement
KW  - animal tracking
KW  - bio-logging
KW  - flapping flight
KW  - GPS logger
KW  - homing pigeon
KW  - Columba livia
PB  - Movebank data repository
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.5441/001/1.284
DO  - doi:10.5441/001/1.284
ER  -

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