Animal flight mechanics in physically variable gas mixtures

Abstract

Empirical studies of animal flight performance have generally been implemented within the contemporary atmosphere. Experimental alteration of the physical composition of gas mixtures, however, permits construction of novel flight media and the non-invasive manipulation of flight biomechanics. For example, replacement of atmospheric nitrogen with various noble gases results in a tenfold variation in air density at a constant oxygen concentration. Such variation in air density correspondingly elicits extraordinary biomechanical effort from flying animals; hummingbirds and euglossine orchid bees hovering in such low-density but normoxic mixtures have demonstrated exceptionally high values for the mechanical power output of aerobic flight muscle. As with mechanical power, lift coefficients during hovering increase at low air densities in spite of a concomitant decline in the Reynolds number of the wings. The physical effects of variable gas density may also be manifest in morphological and physiological adaptations of animals to flight across altitudinal gradients. Global variation in atmospheric composition during the late Paleozoic may also have influenced the initial evolution and subsequent diversification of ancestral pterygotes. For the present-day experimenter, the use of physically variable flight media represents a versatile opportunity to explore the range of kinematic and aerodynamic modulation available to flying animals.