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Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag
Bat wing skin is exceptionally compliant and cambers significantly during flight. Plagiopatagiales proprii, arrays of small muscles embedded in the armwing membrane, are activated during flight and are hypothesized to modulate membrane tension. We examined the function of these muscles using Jamaica...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
The Company of Biologists Ltd
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9377553/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35762250 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243974 |
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author | Cheney, Jorn A. Rehm, Jeremy C. Swartz, Sharon M. Breuer, Kenneth S. |
author_facet | Cheney, Jorn A. Rehm, Jeremy C. Swartz, Sharon M. Breuer, Kenneth S. |
author_sort | Cheney, Jorn A. |
collection | PubMed |
description | Bat wing skin is exceptionally compliant and cambers significantly during flight. Plagiopatagiales proprii, arrays of small muscles embedded in the armwing membrane, are activated during flight and are hypothesized to modulate membrane tension. We examined the function of these muscles using Jamaican fruit bats, Artibeus jamaicensis. When these muscles were paralyzed using botulinum toxin, the bats preferred flight speed decreased and they were unable to fly at very low speeds. Paralysis of the plagiopatagiales also resulted in increased armwing camber consistent with a hypothesized role of modulating aeroelastic interactions. Other compensatory kinematics included increased downstroke angle and increased wingbeat amplitude. These results are consistent with the bats experiencing increased drag and flight power costs associated with the loss of wing-membrane control. Our results indicate that A. jamaicensis likely always employ their wing membrane muscles during sustained flight to control camber and to enhance flight efficiency over a wide flight envelope. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9377553 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | The Company of Biologists Ltd |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-93775532022-09-02 Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag Cheney, Jorn A. Rehm, Jeremy C. Swartz, Sharon M. Breuer, Kenneth S. J Exp Biol Short Communication Bat wing skin is exceptionally compliant and cambers significantly during flight. Plagiopatagiales proprii, arrays of small muscles embedded in the armwing membrane, are activated during flight and are hypothesized to modulate membrane tension. We examined the function of these muscles using Jamaican fruit bats, Artibeus jamaicensis. When these muscles were paralyzed using botulinum toxin, the bats preferred flight speed decreased and they were unable to fly at very low speeds. Paralysis of the plagiopatagiales also resulted in increased armwing camber consistent with a hypothesized role of modulating aeroelastic interactions. Other compensatory kinematics included increased downstroke angle and increased wingbeat amplitude. These results are consistent with the bats experiencing increased drag and flight power costs associated with the loss of wing-membrane control. Our results indicate that A. jamaicensis likely always employ their wing membrane muscles during sustained flight to control camber and to enhance flight efficiency over a wide flight envelope. The Company of Biologists Ltd 2022-07-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9377553/ /pubmed/35762250 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243974 Text en © 2022. Published by The Company of Biologists Ltd https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium provided that the original work is properly attributed. |
spellingShingle | Short Communication Cheney, Jorn A. Rehm, Jeremy C. Swartz, Sharon M. Breuer, Kenneth S. Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag |
title | Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag |
title_full | Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag |
title_fullStr | Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag |
title_full_unstemmed | Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag |
title_short | Bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag |
title_sort | bats actively modulate membrane compliance to control camber and reduce drag |
topic | Short Communication |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9377553/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35762250 http://dx.doi.org/10.1242/jeb.243974 |
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