title: Phylogenetic comparisons of pedestrian locomotion costs: confirmations and new insights.
abstract: The energetic costs for animals to locomote on land influence many aspects of their ecology. Size accounts for much of the among-species variation in terrestrial transport costs, but species of similar body size can still exhibit severalfold differences in energy expenditure. We compiled measurements of the (mass-specific) minimum cost of pedestrian transport (COTmin, mL/kg/m) for 201 species - by far the largest sample to date - and used phylogenetically informed comparative analyses to investigate possible eco-evolutionary differences in COTminbetween various groupings of those species. We investigated number of legs, ectothermy and endothermy, waddling, and nocturnality specifically in lizards. Thus, our study primarily revisited previous theories about variations in COTminbetween species, testing them with much more robust analyses. Having accounted for mass, while residual COTmindid not differ between bipedal and other species, specifically waddling bipeds were found to have relatively high COTmin. Furthermore, nocturnal lizards have relatively low COTminalthough temperature does not appear to affect COTminin ectotherms. Previous studies examining across-species variation in COTminfrom a biomechanical perspective show that the differences between waddling birds and nonwaddling species, and between nocturnal lizards and other ecotherms, are likely to be attributable to differences in ground reaction forces, posture, and effective limb length.
authors: Centre for Geometric Biology School of Biological Sciences Monash University Melbourne Victoria 3800 Australia; School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors: Craig R
authors: CR
authors: White
authors: Centre for Geometric Biology School of Biological Sciences Monash University Melbourne Victoria 3800 Australia; School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors: Lesley A
authors: LA
authors: Alton
authors: School of Biological Sciences The University of Queensland Brisbane Queensland 4072 Australia.
authors: Taryn S
authors: TS
authors: Crispin
authors: Department of Life Sciences Centre for Research in Ecology University of Roehampton Holybourne Avenue London SW15 4JD UK.
authors: Lewis G
authors: LG
authors: Halsey
keywords: Locomotion; metabolic rate; oxygen consumption; running; scaling