Avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling
We used ultrasonic imaging to monitor short-term changes in the pectoral muscle size of captive red knots Calidris canutus. Pectoral muscle thickness changed rapidly and consistently in parallel with body mass changes caused by flight, fasting and fuelling. Four knots flew repeatedly for 10 h period...
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2000
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ftulundlup:oai:lup.lub.lu.se:1a7249eb-9de7-401f-be4f-3581002c4da6 2023-05-15T15:48:27+02:00 Avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling Lindström, Åke Kvist, Anders Piersma, T Dekinga, A Dietz, M W 2000 https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1116371 eng eng The Company of Biologists Ltd https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1116371 pmid:10667974 scopus:0034032981 Journal of Experimental Biology; 203(5), pp 913-919 (2000) ISSN: 1477-9145 Pharmacology and Toxicology contributiontojournal/article info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2000 ftulundlup 2023-02-01T23:28:23Z We used ultrasonic imaging to monitor short-term changes in the pectoral muscle size of captive red knots Calidris canutus. Pectoral muscle thickness changed rapidly and consistently in parallel with body mass changes caused by flight, fasting and fuelling. Four knots flew repeatedly for 10 h periods in a wind tunnel. Over this period, pectoral muscle thickness decreased in parallel with the decrease in body mass. The change in pectoral muscle thickness during flight was indistinguishable from that during periods of natural and experimental fasting and fuelling. The body-mass-related variation in pectoral muscle thickness between and within individuals was not related to the amount of flight, indicating that changes in avian muscle do not require power-training as in mammals. Our study suggests that it is possible for birds to consume and replace their flight muscles on a time scale short enough to allow these muscles to be used as part of the energy supply for migratory flight. The adaptive significance of the changes in pectoral muscle mass cannot be explained by reproductive needs since our knots were in the early winter phase of their annual cycle. Instead, pectoral muscle mass changes may reflect (i) the breakdown of protein during heavy exercise and its subsequent restoration, (ii) the regulation of flight capacity to maintain optimal flight performance when body mass varies, or (iii) the need for a particular protein:fat ratio in winter survival stores. Article in Journal/Newspaper Calidris canutus Lund University Publications (LUP) |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Lund University Publications (LUP) |
op_collection_id |
ftulundlup |
language |
English |
topic |
Pharmacology and Toxicology |
spellingShingle |
Pharmacology and Toxicology Lindström, Åke Kvist, Anders Piersma, T Dekinga, A Dietz, M W Avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling |
topic_facet |
Pharmacology and Toxicology |
description |
We used ultrasonic imaging to monitor short-term changes in the pectoral muscle size of captive red knots Calidris canutus. Pectoral muscle thickness changed rapidly and consistently in parallel with body mass changes caused by flight, fasting and fuelling. Four knots flew repeatedly for 10 h periods in a wind tunnel. Over this period, pectoral muscle thickness decreased in parallel with the decrease in body mass. The change in pectoral muscle thickness during flight was indistinguishable from that during periods of natural and experimental fasting and fuelling. The body-mass-related variation in pectoral muscle thickness between and within individuals was not related to the amount of flight, indicating that changes in avian muscle do not require power-training as in mammals. Our study suggests that it is possible for birds to consume and replace their flight muscles on a time scale short enough to allow these muscles to be used as part of the energy supply for migratory flight. The adaptive significance of the changes in pectoral muscle mass cannot be explained by reproductive needs since our knots were in the early winter phase of their annual cycle. Instead, pectoral muscle mass changes may reflect (i) the breakdown of protein during heavy exercise and its subsequent restoration, (ii) the regulation of flight capacity to maintain optimal flight performance when body mass varies, or (iii) the need for a particular protein:fat ratio in winter survival stores. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Lindström, Åke Kvist, Anders Piersma, T Dekinga, A Dietz, M W |
author_facet |
Lindström, Åke Kvist, Anders Piersma, T Dekinga, A Dietz, M W |
author_sort |
Lindström, Åke |
title |
Avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling |
title_short |
Avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling |
title_full |
Avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling |
title_fullStr |
Avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling |
title_full_unstemmed |
Avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling |
title_sort |
avian pectoral muscle size rapidly tracks body mass changes during flight, fasting and fuelling |
publisher |
The Company of Biologists Ltd |
publishDate |
2000 |
url |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1116371 |
genre |
Calidris canutus |
genre_facet |
Calidris canutus |
op_source |
Journal of Experimental Biology; 203(5), pp 913-919 (2000) ISSN: 1477-9145 |
op_relation |
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/1116371 pmid:10667974 scopus:0034032981 |
_version_ |
1766383422315429888 |