Optimization of dynamic soaring in a flap-gliding seabird affects its large-scale distribution at sea

James A. Kempton; Joe Wynn; Sarah Bond; James Evry; Annette L. Fayet; Natasha Gillies; Tim Guilford; Marwa Kavelaars; Ignacio Juarez-Martinez; Oliver Padget; Christian Rutz; Akiko Shoji; Martyna Syposz; Graham K. Taylor

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abo0200

Optimization of dynamic soaring in a flap-gliding seabird affects its large-scale distribution at sea

James A. Kempton^*, Joe Wynn, Sarah Bond, James Evry, Annette L. Fayet, Natasha Gillies, Tim Guilford, Marwa Kavelaars, Ignacio Juarez-Martinez, Oliver Padget, Christian Rutz, Akiko Shoji, Martyna Syposz, Graham K. Taylor

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

Dynamic soaring harvests energy from a spatiotemporal wind gradient, allowing albatrosses to glide over vast distances. However, its use is challenging to demonstrate empirically and has yet to be confirmed in other seabirds. Here, we investigate how flap-gliding Manx shearwaters optimize their flight for dynamic soaring. We do so by deriving a new metric, the horizontal wind effectiveness, that quantifies how effectively flight harvests energy from a shear layer. We evaluate this metric empirically for fine-scale trajectories reconstructed from bird-borne video data using a simplified flight dynamics model. We find that the birds' undulations are phased with their horizontal turning to optimize energy harvesting. We also assess the opportunity for energy harvesting in long-range, GPS-logged foraging trajectories and find that Manx shearwaters optimize their flight to increase the opportunity for dynamic soaring during favorable wind conditions. Our results show how small-scale dynamic soaring affects large-scale Manx shearwater distribution at sea.

Original language	English
Article number	eabo0200
Number of pages	18
Journal	Science Advances
Volume	8
Issue number	22
Early online date	1 Jun 2022
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo0200
Publication status	Published - 3 Jun 2022

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Fellowship - The ecological cultural: The ecological cultural and cognitive context of tool use in New Caledonian crows
Rutz, C. (PI)
BBSRC
2/06/12 → 1/09/15
Project: Fellowship

Supplementary Data accompanying: "Optimization of dynamic soaring in a flap-gliding seabird impacts its large-scale distribution at sea"
Kempton, J. (Creator), Joe, W. (Creator), Bond, S. (Creator), Evry, J. (Creator), Fayet, A. L. (Creator), Gillies, N. (Creator), Guilford, T. (Creator), Kavelaars, M. M. (Creator), Juarez-Martinez, I. (Creator), Padget, O. (Creator), Rutz, C. (Creator), Shoji, A. (Creator), Syposz, M. (Creator) & Taylor, G. (Creator), Figshare, 2022
DOI: 10.6084/m9.figshare.18019454.v2
Dataset

Cite this

Kempton, J. A., Wynn, J., Bond, S., Evry, J., Fayet, A. L., Gillies, N., Guilford, T., Kavelaars, M., Juarez-Martinez, I., Padget, O., Rutz, C., Shoji, A., Syposz, M., & Taylor, G. K. (2022). Optimization of dynamic soaring in a flap-gliding seabird affects its large-scale distribution at sea. Science Advances, 8(22), Article eabo0200. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abo0200

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title = "Optimization of dynamic soaring in a flap-gliding seabird affects its large-scale distribution at sea",

abstract = "Dynamic soaring harvests energy from a spatiotemporal wind gradient, allowing albatrosses to glide over vast distances. However, its use is challenging to demonstrate empirically and has yet to be confirmed in other seabirds. Here, we investigate how flap-gliding Manx shearwaters optimize their flight for dynamic soaring. We do so by deriving a new metric, the horizontal wind effectiveness, that quantifies how effectively flight harvests energy from a shear layer. We evaluate this metric empirically for fine-scale trajectories reconstructed from bird-borne video data using a simplified flight dynamics model. We find that the birds' undulations are phased with their horizontal turning to optimize energy harvesting. We also assess the opportunity for energy harvesting in long-range, GPS-logged foraging trajectories and find that Manx shearwaters optimize their flight to increase the opportunity for dynamic soaring during favorable wind conditions. Our results show how small-scale dynamic soaring affects large-scale Manx shearwater distribution at sea.",

author = "Kempton, {James A.} and Joe Wynn and Sarah Bond and James Evry and Fayet, {Annette L.} and Natasha Gillies and Tim Guilford and Marwa Kavelaars and Ignacio Juarez-Martinez and Oliver Padget and Christian Rutz and Akiko Shoji and Martyna Syposz and Taylor, {Graham K.}",

note = "Funding: This work was supported by the University of Oxford Christopher Welch Scholarship (to J.A.K.); ASAB Undergraduate Project Scholarship (to J.A.K.); UKRI BBSRC scholarship grant number BB/M011224/1 (to J.W. and N.G.); The Queen{\textquoteright}s College, University of Oxford (to A.L.F.); Junior Research Fellowship at St. John{\textquoteright}s College, University of Oxford (to O.P.); Merton College, University of Oxford (to T.G.); Mary Griffiths Award (to T.G.); BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship grant numbers BB/G023913/1 and BB/ G023913/2 (to C.R.); and Jesus College, University of Oxford (to G.K.T.). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union{\textquoteright}s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 682501) (to G.K.T.)",

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T1 - Optimization of dynamic soaring in a flap-gliding seabird affects its large-scale distribution at sea

AU - Kempton, James A.

AU - Wynn, Joe

AU - Bond, Sarah

AU - Evry, James

AU - Fayet, Annette L.

AU - Gillies, Natasha

AU - Guilford, Tim

AU - Kavelaars, Marwa

AU - Juarez-Martinez, Ignacio

AU - Padget, Oliver

AU - Rutz, Christian

AU - Shoji, Akiko

AU - Syposz, Martyna

AU - Taylor, Graham K.

N1 - Funding: This work was supported by the University of Oxford Christopher Welch Scholarship (to J.A.K.); ASAB Undergraduate Project Scholarship (to J.A.K.); UKRI BBSRC scholarship grant number BB/M011224/1 (to J.W. and N.G.); The Queen’s College, University of Oxford (to A.L.F.); Junior Research Fellowship at St. John’s College, University of Oxford (to O.P.); Merton College, University of Oxford (to T.G.); Mary Griffiths Award (to T.G.); BBSRC David Phillips Fellowship grant numbers BB/G023913/1 and BB/ G023913/2 (to C.R.); and Jesus College, University of Oxford (to G.K.T.). This project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (grant agreement no. 682501) (to G.K.T.)

PY - 2022/6/3

Y1 - 2022/6/3

N2 - Dynamic soaring harvests energy from a spatiotemporal wind gradient, allowing albatrosses to glide over vast distances. However, its use is challenging to demonstrate empirically and has yet to be confirmed in other seabirds. Here, we investigate how flap-gliding Manx shearwaters optimize their flight for dynamic soaring. We do so by deriving a new metric, the horizontal wind effectiveness, that quantifies how effectively flight harvests energy from a shear layer. We evaluate this metric empirically for fine-scale trajectories reconstructed from bird-borne video data using a simplified flight dynamics model. We find that the birds' undulations are phased with their horizontal turning to optimize energy harvesting. We also assess the opportunity for energy harvesting in long-range, GPS-logged foraging trajectories and find that Manx shearwaters optimize their flight to increase the opportunity for dynamic soaring during favorable wind conditions. Our results show how small-scale dynamic soaring affects large-scale Manx shearwater distribution at sea.

AB - Dynamic soaring harvests energy from a spatiotemporal wind gradient, allowing albatrosses to glide over vast distances. However, its use is challenging to demonstrate empirically and has yet to be confirmed in other seabirds. Here, we investigate how flap-gliding Manx shearwaters optimize their flight for dynamic soaring. We do so by deriving a new metric, the horizontal wind effectiveness, that quantifies how effectively flight harvests energy from a shear layer. We evaluate this metric empirically for fine-scale trajectories reconstructed from bird-borne video data using a simplified flight dynamics model. We find that the birds' undulations are phased with their horizontal turning to optimize energy harvesting. We also assess the opportunity for energy harvesting in long-range, GPS-logged foraging trajectories and find that Manx shearwaters optimize their flight to increase the opportunity for dynamic soaring during favorable wind conditions. Our results show how small-scale dynamic soaring affects large-scale Manx shearwater distribution at sea.

U2 - 10.1126/sciadv.abo0200

DO - 10.1126/sciadv.abo0200

M3 - Article

C2 - 35648862

SN - 2375-2548

VL - 8

JO - Science Advances

JF - Science Advances

IS - 22

M1 - eabo0200

ER -

Optimization of dynamic soaring in a flap-gliding seabird affects its large-scale distribution at sea

Abstract

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Fellowship - The ecological cultural: The ecological cultural and cognitive context of tool use in New Caledonian crows

Datasets

Supplementary Data accompanying: "Optimization of dynamic soaring in a flap-gliding seabird impacts its large-scale distribution at sea"

Cite this