Convergent evolution in locomotory patterns of flying and swimming animals

Locomotion is one of the major energetic costs faced by animals and various strategies have evolved to reduce its cost. Birds use interspersed periods of flapping and gliding to reduce the mechanical requirements of level flight while undergoing cyclical changes in flight altitude, known as undulati...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Nature communications 2011-06, Vol.2 (1), p.352-352, Article 352
Main Authors: Gleiss, Adrian C., Jorgensen, Salvador J., Liebsch, Nikolai, Sala, Juan E., Norman, Brad, Hays, Graeme C., Quintana, Flavio, Grundy, Edward, Campagna, Claudio, Trites, Andrew W., Block, Barbara A., Wilson, Rory P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
631/208/182
631/57/343
631/601/1332
Acceleration
Adaptation, Biological - physiology
Animals
Argentina
Biological Evolution
Flight, Animal - physiology
Fur Seals - physiology
Gait - physiology
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Seals, Earless - physiology
Selection, Genetic
Sharks - physiology
Species Specificity
Swimming - physiology
Telemetry
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Summary:Locomotion is one of the major energetic costs faced by animals and various strategies have evolved to reduce its cost. Birds use interspersed periods of flapping and gliding to reduce the mechanical requirements of level flight while undergoing cyclical changes in flight altitude, known as undulating flight. Here we equipped free-ranging marine vertebrates with accelerometers and demonstrate that gait patterns resembling undulating flight occur in four marine vertebrate species comprising sharks and pinnipeds. Both sharks and pinnipeds display intermittent gliding interspersed with powered locomotion. We suggest, that the convergent use of similar gait patterns by distinct groups of animals points to universal physical and physiological principles that operate beyond taxonomic limits and shape common solutions to increase energetic efficiency. Energetically expensive large-scale migrations performed by many vertebrates provide common selection pressure for efficient locomotion, with potential for the convergence of locomotory strategies by a wide variety of species. Undulating flight, an efficient mode of locomotion in flying birds, can theoretically also result in efficient locomotion in water. Here we demonstrate gait patterns resembling undulating flight in four marine vertebrate species comprising sharks and pinnipeds.
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/ncomms1350