scholarly journals Effect of limb mass and its distribution on the energetic cost of running

1985 ◽  
Vol 116 (1) ◽  
pp. 363-373 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. J. Myers ◽  
K. Steudel

Functional morphologists have traditionally regarded cost of locomotion as an important influence on the design of locomotor structures. If cost of locomotion is an important constraint in the natural selection of these structures, it should be possible to show that animals differing in limb morphology also differ in their locomotor costs. In previous experiments on three species of cursorial mammals differing considerably in limb structure, no such differences were detected. Since the factors that determine the rate of energy consumption of a running animal are not well understood, we felt that the effect of limb morphology on cost could best be examined in a system in which only the inertial properties of limbs were varied while other factors remained constant. Consequently, we have measured changes in the rate of energy consumption of running human subjects produced by artificial alterations in limb inertial properties. Other variables that might influence cost have been controlled. We found that the cost of adding a given mass to the limbs is significantly greater than adding it to the centre of mass and that this effect becomes more pronounced as the limb loads are moved distally. Thus a clear effect of limb mass and its distribution on cost of locomotion has been demonstrated.

1990 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 273-285 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Steudel

Does limb design influence the cost of locomotion in quadrupedal mammals? If not, morphologists must dismiss the economy of locomotion from consideration when assessing the adaptive factors shaping limb structure. Several studies have recently used externally applied loads to demonstrate a relationship between limb mass distribution and energy costs in human subjects. It is not clear whether a similar correlation would hold for quadrupeds, given their very different gaits. The present study addresses this question by measuring the rate of oxygen consumption in domestic dogs running on a treadmill with mass added either to the limbs or to the back. Trials with no additional mass were used as a control. The use of externally applied loads has the advantage of allowing limb mass to be altered in a system in which other aspects of physiology that might influence cost of locomotion are held constant. The cost of adding mass to the limbs in dogs was found to be significantly greater than that of adding it at the center of mass. Limb mass distribution does affect the cost of locomotion in quadrupeds. A comparison of the results from a variety of studies in which the energetic cost of adding external loads has been measured in animals across a wide size range suggests a qualitative difference in the factors determining the cost of locomotion in large and small animals.


1988 ◽  
Vol 138 (1) ◽  
pp. 301-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. C. Heglund ◽  
C. R. Taylor

In this study we investigate how speed and stride frequency change with body size. We use this information to define ‘equivalent speeds’ for animals of different size and to explore the factors underlying the six-fold difference in mass-specific energy cost of locomotion between mouse- and horse-sized animals at these speeds. Speeds and stride frequencies within a trot and a gallop were measured on a treadmill in 16 species of wild and domestic quadrupeds, ranging in body size from 30 g mice to 200 kg horses. We found that the minimum, preferred and maximum sustained speeds within a trot and a gallop all change in the same rather dramatic manner with body size, differing by nine-fold between mice and horses (i.e. all three speeds scale with about the 0.2 power of body mass). Although the absolute speeds differ greatly, the maximum sustainable speed was about 2.6-fold greater than the minimum within a trot, and 2.1-fold greater within a gallop. The frequencies used to sustain the equivalent speeds (with the exception of the minimum trotting speed) scale with about the same factor, the −0.15 power of body mass. Combining this speed and frequency data with previously published data on the energetic cost of locomotion, we find that the mass-specific energetic cost of locomotion is almost directly proportional to the stride frequency used to sustain a constant speed at all the equivalent speeds within a trot and a gallop, except for the minimum trotting speed (where it changes by a factor of two over the size range of animals studied). Thus the energy cost per kilogram per stride at five of the six equivalent speeds is about the same for all animals, independent of body size, but increases with speed: 5.0 J kg-1 stride-1 at the preferred trotting speed; 5.3 J kg-1 stride-1 at the trot-gallop transition speed; 7.5 J kg-1 stride-1 at the preferred galloping speed; and 9.4 J kg-1 stride-1 at the maximum sustained galloping speed. The cost of locomotion is determined primarily by the cost of activating muscles and of generating a unit of force for a unit of time. Our data show that both these costs increase directly with the stride frequency used at equivalent speeds by different-sized animals. The increase in cost per stride with muscles (necessitating higher muscle forces for the same ground reaction force) as stride length increases both in the trot and in the gallop.


1995 ◽  
Vol 198 (3) ◽  
pp. 629-632 ◽  
Author(s):  
V A Langman ◽  
T J Roberts ◽  
J Black ◽  
G M Maloiy ◽  
N C Heglund ◽  
...  

Large animals have a much better fuel economy than small ones, both when they rest and when they run. At rest, each gram of tissue of the largest land animal, the African elephant, consumes metabolic energy at 1/20 the rate of a mouse; using existing allometric relationships, we calculate that it should be able to carry 1 g of its tissue (or a load) for 1 km at 1/40 the cost for a mouse. These relationships between energetics and size are so consistent that they have been characterized as biological laws. The elephant has massive legs and lumbers along awkwardly, suggesting that it might expend more energy to move about than other animals. We find, however, that its energetic cost of locomotion is predicted remarkably well by the allometric relationships and is the lowest recorded for any living land animal.


1990 ◽  
Vol 154 (1) ◽  
pp. 287-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Steudel

Previous studies have shown that large animals have systematically lower mass-specific costs of locomotion than do smaller animals, in spite of there being no demonstrable difference between them in the mass-specific mechanical work of locomotion. Larger animals are somehow much more efficient at converting metabolic energy to mechanical work. The present study analyzes how this decoupling of work and cost might occur. The experimental design employs limb-loaded and back-loaded dogs and allows the energetic cost of locomotion to be partitioned between that used to move the center of mass (external work) and that used to move the limbs relative to the center of mass (internal work). These costs were measured in three dogs moving at four speeds. Increases in the cost of external work with speed parallel increases in the amount of external work based on data from previous studies. However, increases in the cost of internal work with speed are much less (less than 50%) than the increase in internal work itself over the speeds examined. Furthermore, the cost of internal work increases linearly with speed, whereas internal work itself increases as a power function of speed. It is suggested that this decoupling results from an increase with speed in the extent to which the internal work of locomotion is powered by non-metabolic means, such as elastic strain energy and transfer of energy within and between body segments.


1982 ◽  
Vol 99 (1) ◽  
pp. 269-277
Author(s):  
LAWRENCE C. ROME

The purpose of this study was to determine whether the energetic cost of locomotion was independent of muscle temperature, or if it tripled with a 10 °C increase in temperature, like the cost of generating isometric force in isolated muscle preparations. For a given running speed of Savannah Monitor lizards, the energetic cost of locomotion (the difference between running and resting metabolism) was the same when muscle temperature was 28.5 °C as when it was 38 °C. It was also found that stride frequency and posture did not change with temperature, indicating that the average force exerted by the lizards' muscles during locomotion at the two temperatures was the same. This suggests that the cost of generating force in vivo is independent of temperature. Several possible explanations of the apparent difference between in vivo and in vitro muscle energetics are discussed.


1990 ◽  
Vol 149 (1) ◽  
pp. 307-317 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Full ◽  
A. Tullis

Small animals use more metabolic energy per unit mass than large animals to run on a level surface. If the cost to lift one gram of mass one vertical meter is constant, small animals should require proportionally smaller increases in metabolic cost to run uphill. To test this hypothesis on very small animals possessing an exceptional capacity for ascending steep gradients, we measured the metabolic cost of locomotion in the cockroach, Periplaneta americana, running at angles of 0, 45 and 90 degrees to the horizontal. Resting oxygen consumption (VO2rest) was not affected by incline angle. Steady-state oxygen consumption (VO2ss) increased linearly with speed at all angles of ascent. The minimum cost of locomotion (the slope of the VO2ss versus speed function) increased with increasing angle of ascent. The minimum cost of locomotion on 45 and 90 degrees inclines was two and three times greater, respectively, than the cost during horizontal running. The cockroach's metabolic cost of ascent greatly exceeds that predicted from the hypothesis of a constant efficiency for vertical work. Variations in stride frequency and contact time cannot account for the high metabolic cost, because they were independent of incline angle. An increase in the metabolic cost or amount of force production may best explain the increase in metabolic cost. Small animals, such as P. americana, can easily scale vertical surfaces, but the energetic cost is considerable.


1992 ◽  
Vol 168 (1) ◽  
pp. 243-252 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. C. Rome

To reconcile the scaling of the mechanics and energetics of locomotion to recent data on the scaling of the mechanics of muscle fibres, I have extended the theory of Taylor and colleagues that the energetic cost of locomotion is determined by the cost of generating force by the fibres. By assuming (1) that the cost of generating force in a fibre is proportional to V(max) (maximum velocity of shortening) and (2) that, at physiologically equivalent speeds, animals of different body sizes recruit the same fibre types, this extension quantitatively predicts the scaling of the energetics of locomotion, as well as other observations, from the scaling of V(max) of the muscle fibres. First, the energetic cost of locomotion at physiologically equivalent speeds scales with Mb-0.16, where Mb is body mass, as does V(max) of a given fibre type. However, the energetic cost at absolute speeds (cost of transport) scales with Mb-0.30, because small animals must compress their recruitment order into a narrower speed range and, hence, recruit faster muscle fibre types at a given running speed. Thus, it costs more for small animals to move 1 kg of their body mass 1 km not only because a given muscle fibre type from a small animal costs more to generate force than from a large one, but also because small animals recruit faster fibre types at a given absolute running speed. In addition, this analysis provides evidence that V(max) scales similarly to 1/tc (where tc is foot contact time) and muscle shortening velocity (V), in agreement with recent models. Finally, this extension predicts that, at physiologically equivalent speeds, the weight-specific energetic cost per step is independent of body size, as has been found empirically.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.L. Johansen ◽  
O. Akanyeti ◽  
J.C. Liao

AbstractTo forage in fast, turbulent flow environments where prey are abundant, predatory fishes must deal with the high associated costs of locomotion. Prevailing theory suggests that many species exploit hydrodynamic refuges to minimize the cost of locomotion while foraging. Here we challenge this theory based on direct oxygen consumption measurements of drift-feeding trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) foraging in the freestream and from behind a flow refuge at velocities up to 100 cm s-1. We demonstrate that refuging is not energetically beneficial when foraging in fast flows due to a high attack cost and low prey capture success associated with leaving a station-holding refuge to intercept prey. By integrating optimum foraging theory with empirical data from respirometry and video imaging, we develop a mathematical model to predict when drift-feeding fishes should exploit or avoid refuges based on prey density, size and flow velocity. Our foraging and refuging model provides new mechanistic insights into the locomotor costs, habitat use, and prey selection of fishes foraging in current-swept habitats.


2020 ◽  
pp. 73-75
Author(s):  
B.M. Bazrov ◽  
T.M. Gaynutdinov

The selection of technological bases is considered before the choice of the type of billet and the development of the route of the technological process. A technique is proposed for selecting the minimum number of sets of technological bases according to the criterion of equality in the cost price of manufacturing the part according to the principle of unity and combination of bases at this stage. Keywords: part, surface, coordinating size, accuracy, design and technological base, labor input, cost price. [email protected]


Genetics ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 165 (4) ◽  
pp. 1641-1649
Author(s):  
Cecilia Dahlberg ◽  
Lin Chao

Abstract Although plasmids can provide beneficial functions to their host bacteria, they might confer a physiological or energetic cost. This study examines how natural selection may reduce the cost of carrying conjugative plasmids with drug-resistance markers in the absence of antibiotic selection. We studied two plasmids, R1 and RP4, both of which carry multiple drug resistance genes and were shown to impose an initial fitness cost on Escherichia coli. To determine if and how the cost could be reduced, we subjected plasmid-containing bacteria to 1100 generations of evolution in batch cultures. Analysis of the evolved populations revealed that plasmid loss never occurred, but that the cost was reduced through genetic changes in both the plasmids and the bacteria. Changes in the plasmids were inferred by the demonstration that evolved plasmids no longer imposed a cost on their hosts when transferred to a plasmid-free clone of the ancestral E. coli. Changes in the bacteria were shown by the lowered cost when the ancestral plasmids were introduced into evolved bacteria that had been cured of their (evolved) plasmids. Additionally, changes in the bacteria were inferred because conjugative transfer rates of evolved R1 plasmids were lower in the evolved host than in the ancestral host. Our results suggest that once a conjugative bacterial plasmid has invaded a bacterial population it will remain even if the original selection is discontinued.


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