Twofold seasonal variation in the supposedly constant, species-specific, ratio of upstroke to downstroke flight muscles in red knots Calidris canutus

• Published in: Journal of Avian Biology
• Main Authors: Piersma, Theunis, Dietz, Maurine W.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2007
• Subjects: PHENOTYPIC FLEXIBILITY; PECTORAL MUSCLE; ORGAN SIZE; EVOLUTION; BEHAVIOR; PIGEON; Arctic; Dietz; Calidris canutus; Red Knot; Tundra
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/11370/c7aeacaf-b792-4236-9382-fa9e6dbf6a40; https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/c7aeacaf-b792-4236-9382-fa9e6dbf6a40; https://doi.org/10.1111/j.2007.0908-8857.04253.x

We show that in a long-distance migrant shorebird species with outspoken seasonal changes in body mass and composition, the red knot Calidris canutus, the ratio between the masses of the small flight muscle (musculus supracoracoideus, powering twists and active upstrokes of the wings) and the larger...