Fast and fuel ef cient? Optimal use of wind by ying albatrosses

• Main Authors: H. Weimerskirch, T. Guionnet, J. Martin, S. A. Sha¡er, D. P. Costa
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Subjects: heart rate; Southern Ocean; wandering albatross; £ight patterns; Diomedea exulans; Wandering Albatross
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.610.8054; http://www.cebc.cnrs.fr/publipdf/2000/WPRSL267.pdf

The in£uence of wind patterns on behaviour and e¡ort of free-ranging male wandering albatrosses (Diomedea exulans) was studied with miniaturized external heart-rate recorders in conjunction with satel-lite transmitters and activity recorders. Heart rate was used as an instantaneous index of energy expenditure. When cruising with favourable tail or side winds, wandering albatrosses can achieve high £ight speeds while expending little more energy than birds resting on land. In contrast, heart rate increases concomitantly with increasing head winds, and £ight speeds decrease. Our results show that e¡ort is greatest when albatrosses take o ¡ from or land on the water. On a larger scale, we show that in order for birds to have the highest probability of experiencing favourable winds, wandering albatrosses use predictable weather systems to engage in a stereotypical £ight pattern of large looping tracks. When heading north, albatrosses £y in anticlockwise loops, and to the south, movements are in a clockwise direction. Thus, the capacity to integrate instantaneous eco-physiological measures with records of large-scale £ight and wind patterns allows us to understand better the complex interplay between the evolution of morphological, physiological and behavioural adaptations of albatrosses in the windiest place on earth.