Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Physiology

Articles

Articles 1 - 2 of 2

Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Sex And Size Interaction And Standard Metabolic Rate Of Paedomorphic Ambystoma Talpoideum: Size Does Matter, Travis Ryan, William Hopkins Feb 2015

Sex And Size Interaction And Standard Metabolic Rate Of Paedomorphic Ambystoma Talpoideum: Size Does Matter, Travis Ryan, William Hopkins

Travis J. Ryan

We measured the standard metabolic rate of paedomorphic Mole Salamanders (Ambystoma talpoideum) from South Carolina. Despite an absence of body size differences between females and males, analysis of covariance demonstrated metabolic rates (mL O2/h) were significantly influenced by an interaction between sex and body size. The interaction appeared as a result of changes in the size-metabolism relationship in males (a steeper slope in the size-metabolism regression in small males as compared to large males), whereas the relationship remained constant in females, regardless of size. We hypothesize that the observed differences are attributable to differences in reproductive physiology between the sexes. …


Rapid Inversion: Running Animals And Robots Swing Like A Pendulum Under Ledges, Jean-Michel Mongeau, Brian Mcrae, Ardian Jusufi, Paul Birkmeyer, Aaron M. Hoover, Ronald Fearing, Robert J. Full Jul 2012

Rapid Inversion: Running Animals And Robots Swing Like A Pendulum Under Ledges, Jean-Michel Mongeau, Brian Mcrae, Ardian Jusufi, Paul Birkmeyer, Aaron M. Hoover, Ronald Fearing, Robert J. Full

Aaron M. Hoover

Escaping from predators often demands that animals rapidly negotiate complex environments. The smallest animals attain relatively fast speeds with high frequency leg cycling, wing flapping or body undulations, but absolute speeds are slow compared to larger animals. Instead, small animals benefit from the advantages of enhanced maneuverability in part due to scaling. Here, we report a novel behavior in small, legged runners that may facilitate their escape by disappearance from predators. We video recorded cockroaches and geckos rapidly running up an incline toward a ledge, digitized their motion and created a simple model to generalize the behavior. Both species ran …