Avian breathing studies

Anyone who has ever been atop a galloping horse, or has noted their own breathing patterns as they jogged, is aware that inspiration and expirations patterns tend to become entrained with limb movement and/or locomotor forces (e.g., ground reaction forces of footfall). Marey (1890) suggested that forces generated by the flapping wings during flight might have some effect on the thoracoabdominal cavity of a bird and the airsacs within. Jenkins et al. (1988) demonstrated that the sternum is moved in and expiratory direction during downstroke and in an inspiratory direction during upstroke. This observation led them to suggest that skeletal movements during flight could alter the anterior and posterior airsac pressures in such a way as to affect the internal distribution of air within the respiratory system. The purpose of the following studies was to measure the anterior and posterior airsac pressures and tracheal airflow in flying magpies while simultaneously visualizing skeletal movements cineradiographically, and to determine if and how locomotor movements and forces affect ventilation in a flying bird.

 

Publications:

Boggs, D.F., F.A. Jenkins, Jr. and K.P. Dial. 1997. The effects of the wingbeat cycle on respiration in Black-billed Magpies (Pica pica). J. Exp. Biol. 200:1403-1412.

Boggs, D.F., J. J. Seveyka, D.L. Kilgore, and K.P. Dial. 1997. Coordination of respiratory cycles with wingbeat cycles in the Black-billed Magpie (Pica pica). J. Exp. Biol. 200:1413-1420.

Boggs, D. F. 1997. Coordinated control of respiratory pattern during locomotion in birds. Amer. Zool., 37:41-53