Skip Navigation

This Article
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow Search for citing articles in:
ISI Web of Science (20)
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Hedenström, A.
Right arrow Articles by Alerstam, T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Hedenström, A.
Right arrow Articles by Alerstam, T.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© 1996 International Society for Behavioral Ecology

research-article

Skylark optimal flight speeds for flying nowhere and somewhere

Anders Hedenström and Thomas Alerstam

Department of Ecology Ecology Building, S-223 62 Lund, Sweden

ABSTRACT

Flight is energetically very costly. For birds the mechanical power in relation to airspeed is characterized by a U-shaped function. From this function we can derive optimal flight speeds associated with minimum power (Vmp), minimum cost of transport (Vmr) and minimum overall time of migration (Vmt). Since flight is energetically so costly, aerial displays and song flight can potentially serve as signals reliably indicating the individual quality or resource potential of the signaler. In order to maximize the amount of song flight produced, we expect Vmp during song flight, while during migration we rather expect Vmr or Vmv We compared flight speeds of skylarks (Alauda arvensis) during song flight and migration flight, respectively. In this species predicted Vmp = 5.5 m/s, Vmr = 10.5 m/s, and Vmt = 12.1 m/s. The preferred airspeed during song flight did not differ significantly from the predicted Vmp, while airspeed during migration was significantly higher than Vmr and Vmp indicating that flight speed is a flexible trait that birds adjust to different situations. Why the skylarks speed up so much on migration is still unclear, but it may be that due to the shape of the predicted power curve, variation in cost of transport at high speeds is relatively small.

Key words: Alauda arvensis, Alaudidae, migration, optimal flight speed, skylark, song flight, [Behav Ecol 7: 121-126 (1996)].


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
J. Shamoun-Baranes, E. van Loon, F. Liechti, and W. Bouten
Analyzing the effect of wind on flight: pitfalls and solutions
J. Exp. Biol., January 1, 2007; 210(1): 82 - 90.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


Disclaimer:
Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.