Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion
Abstract Background Using Froude numbers ( Fr ) and relative stride length (stride length: hip height), trackways have been widely used to determine the speed and gait of an animal. This approach, however, is limited by the ability to estimate hip height accurately and by the lack of information rel...
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Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z/fulltext.html |
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crspringernat:10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z 2023-05-15T18:29:51+02:00 Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion Marmol-Guijarro, Andres Nudds, Robert Folkow, Lars Codd, Jonathan Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación 2020 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z/fulltext.html en eng Springer Science and Business Media LLC https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 CC-BY Frontiers in Zoology volume 17, issue 1 ISSN 1742-9994 Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics journal-article 2020 crspringernat https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z 2022-01-04T15:35:55Z Abstract Background Using Froude numbers ( Fr ) and relative stride length (stride length: hip height), trackways have been widely used to determine the speed and gait of an animal. This approach, however, is limited by the ability to estimate hip height accurately and by the lack of information related to the substrate properties when the tracks were made, in particular for extinct fauna. By studying the Svalbard ptarmigan moving on snow, we assessed the accuracy of trackway predictions from a species-specific model and two additional Fr based models by ground truthing data extracted from videos as the tracks were being made. Results The species-specific model accounted for more than 60% of the variability in speed for walking and aerial running, but only accounted for 19% when grounded running, likely due to its stabilizing role while moving faster over a changing substrate. The error in speed estimated was 0–35% for all gaits when using the species-specific model, whereas Fr based estimates produced errors up to 55%. The highest errors were associated with the walking gait. The transition between pendular to bouncing gaits fell close to the estimates using relative stride length described for other extant vertebrates. Conversely, the transition from grounded to aerial running appears to be species specific and highly dependent on posture and substrate. Conclusion Altogether, this study highlights that using trackways to derive predictions on the locomotor speed and gait, using stride length as the only predictor, are problematic as accurate predictions require information from the animal in question. Article in Journal/Newspaper Svalbard Springer Nature (via Crossref) Svalbard Frontiers in Zoology 17 1 |
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Springer Nature (via Crossref) |
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language |
English |
topic |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
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Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics Marmol-Guijarro, Andres Nudds, Robert Folkow, Lars Codd, Jonathan Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion |
topic_facet |
Animal Science and Zoology Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics |
description |
Abstract Background Using Froude numbers ( Fr ) and relative stride length (stride length: hip height), trackways have been widely used to determine the speed and gait of an animal. This approach, however, is limited by the ability to estimate hip height accurately and by the lack of information related to the substrate properties when the tracks were made, in particular for extinct fauna. By studying the Svalbard ptarmigan moving on snow, we assessed the accuracy of trackway predictions from a species-specific model and two additional Fr based models by ground truthing data extracted from videos as the tracks were being made. Results The species-specific model accounted for more than 60% of the variability in speed for walking and aerial running, but only accounted for 19% when grounded running, likely due to its stabilizing role while moving faster over a changing substrate. The error in speed estimated was 0–35% for all gaits when using the species-specific model, whereas Fr based estimates produced errors up to 55%. The highest errors were associated with the walking gait. The transition between pendular to bouncing gaits fell close to the estimates using relative stride length described for other extant vertebrates. Conversely, the transition from grounded to aerial running appears to be species specific and highly dependent on posture and substrate. Conclusion Altogether, this study highlights that using trackways to derive predictions on the locomotor speed and gait, using stride length as the only predictor, are problematic as accurate predictions require information from the animal in question. |
author2 |
Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Secretaría de Educación Superior, Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Marmol-Guijarro, Andres Nudds, Robert Folkow, Lars Codd, Jonathan |
author_facet |
Marmol-Guijarro, Andres Nudds, Robert Folkow, Lars Codd, Jonathan |
author_sort |
Marmol-Guijarro, Andres |
title |
Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion |
title_short |
Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion |
title_full |
Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion |
title_fullStr |
Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion |
title_full_unstemmed |
Examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion |
title_sort |
examining the accuracy of trackways for predicting gait selection and speed of locomotion |
publisher |
Springer Science and Business Media LLC |
publishDate |
2020 |
url |
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z.pdf https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z/fulltext.html |
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Svalbard |
geographic_facet |
Svalbard |
genre |
Svalbard |
genre_facet |
Svalbard |
op_source |
Frontiers in Zoology volume 17, issue 1 ISSN 1742-9994 |
op_rights |
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 |
op_rightsnorm |
CC-BY |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12983-020-00363-z |
container_title |
Frontiers in Zoology |
container_volume |
17 |
container_issue |
1 |
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1766213259676876800 |