To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle

A perennial question in ornithology is whether flight has evolved mostly to facilitate access to food or as an anti-predator strategy. However, flight is an expensive mode of locomotion and species using flight regularly are associated with an expensive lifestyle. Using heart rate (HR) data loggers...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
Main Authors: Pelletier, David, Guillemette, Magella, Grandbois, Jean-Marc, Butler, Patrick J
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: The Royal Society 2008
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2603210
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18522911
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0422
id ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2603210
record_format openpolar
spelling ftpubmed:oai:pubmedcentral.nih.gov:2603210 2023-05-15T18:20:26+02:00 To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle Pelletier, David Guillemette, Magella Grandbois, Jean-Marc Butler, Patrick J 2008-06-03 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2603210 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18522911 https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0422 en eng The Royal Society http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2603210 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18522911 http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0422 © 2008 The Royal Society Research Article Text 2008 ftpubmed https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0422 2013-09-02T08:50:03Z A perennial question in ornithology is whether flight has evolved mostly to facilitate access to food or as an anti-predator strategy. However, flight is an expensive mode of locomotion and species using flight regularly are associated with an expensive lifestyle. Using heart rate (HR) data loggers implanted in 13 female common eiders (Somateria mollissima), our objective was to test the hypothesis that a high level of flight activity increases their energy budget. We used the long-term recording (seven months) of HR as an index of energy expenditure and the HR flight signature to compile all flight events. Our results indicate that the eider is one of the thriftiest volant birds with only 10 minutes of flight time per day. Consequently, we were not able to detect any effect of flight activity on their energy budget despite very high flight costs (123–149 W), suggesting that flight was controlled by energy budget limitations. However, the low flight activity of that species may also be related to their prey landscape requiring few or no large-scale movements. Nevertheless, we suggest that the (fitness) benefits of keeping flight ability in this species exceed the costs by allowing a higher survival in relation to predation and environmental harshness. Text Somateria mollissima PubMed Central (PMC) Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 275 1647 2117 2124
institution Open Polar
collection PubMed Central (PMC)
op_collection_id ftpubmed
language English
topic Research Article
spellingShingle Research Article
Pelletier, David
Guillemette, Magella
Grandbois, Jean-Marc
Butler, Patrick J
To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle
topic_facet Research Article
description A perennial question in ornithology is whether flight has evolved mostly to facilitate access to food or as an anti-predator strategy. However, flight is an expensive mode of locomotion and species using flight regularly are associated with an expensive lifestyle. Using heart rate (HR) data loggers implanted in 13 female common eiders (Somateria mollissima), our objective was to test the hypothesis that a high level of flight activity increases their energy budget. We used the long-term recording (seven months) of HR as an index of energy expenditure and the HR flight signature to compile all flight events. Our results indicate that the eider is one of the thriftiest volant birds with only 10 minutes of flight time per day. Consequently, we were not able to detect any effect of flight activity on their energy budget despite very high flight costs (123–149 W), suggesting that flight was controlled by energy budget limitations. However, the low flight activity of that species may also be related to their prey landscape requiring few or no large-scale movements. Nevertheless, we suggest that the (fitness) benefits of keeping flight ability in this species exceed the costs by allowing a higher survival in relation to predation and environmental harshness.
format Text
author Pelletier, David
Guillemette, Magella
Grandbois, Jean-Marc
Butler, Patrick J
author_facet Pelletier, David
Guillemette, Magella
Grandbois, Jean-Marc
Butler, Patrick J
author_sort Pelletier, David
title To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle
title_short To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle
title_full To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle
title_fullStr To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle
title_full_unstemmed To fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle
title_sort to fly or not to fly: high flight costs in a large sea duck do not imply an expensive lifestyle
publisher The Royal Society
publishDate 2008
url http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2603210
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18522911
https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0422
genre Somateria mollissima
genre_facet Somateria mollissima
op_relation http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2603210
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18522911
http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0422
op_rights © 2008 The Royal Society
op_doi https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2008.0422
container_title Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
container_volume 275
container_issue 1647
container_start_page 2117
op_container_end_page 2124
_version_ 1766197963176017920