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Moving in a moving medium: new perspectives on flight

Emily Shepard Orcid Logo, Andrew N. Ross, Steven J. Portugal

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, Volume: 371, Issue: 1704, Start page: 20150382

Swansea University Author: Emily Shepard Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1098/rstb.2015.0382

Abstract

One of the defining features of the aerial environment is its variability; air is almost never still. This has profound consequences for flying animals, affecting their flight stability, speed selection, energy expenditure and choice of flight path. All these factors have important implications for...

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Published in: Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences
ISSN: 0962-8436 1471-2970
Published: 2016
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa29258
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Abstract: One of the defining features of the aerial environment is its variability; air is almost never still. This has profound consequences for flying animals, affecting their flight stability, speed selection, energy expenditure and choice of flight path. All these factors have important implications for the ecology of flying animals and the ecosystems they interact with, as well as providing bio-inspiration for the development of unmanned aerial vehicles. In this introduction we touch on the factors that drive the variability in airflows, the scales of variability and the degree to which airflows may be predictable. We then summarise how papers in this volume advance our understanding of the sensory, biomechanical, physiological and behavioural responses of animals to air flows. Overall, this provides insight into how flying animals can be so successful in this most fickle of environments.
Keywords: Flight, aeroecology, wind, soaring, energy expenditure, movement ecology
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Issue: 1704
Start Page: 20150382

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