Structure and Motion Laboratory, Royal Veterinary College, Hatfield AL97TA, UK.
J R Soc Interface. 2012 Jun 7;9(71):1120-30. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2011.0838. Epub 2012 Jan 18.
To date, wake measurements using particle image velocimetry (PIV) of bats in flight have studied only three bat species, all fruit and nectar feeders. In this study, we present the first wake structure analysis for an insectivorous bat. Tadarida brasiliensis, the Brazilian free-tailed bat, is an aerial hunter that annually migrates long distances and also differs strikingly from the previously investigated species morphologically. We compare the aerodynamics of T. brasiliensis with those of other, frugivorous bats and with common swifts, Apus apus, a bird with wing morphology, kinematics and flight ecology similar to that of these bats. The comparison reveals that, for the range of speeds evaluated, the cyclical pattern of aerodynamic forces associated with a wingbeat shows more similarities between T. brasiliensis and A. apus than between T. brasiliensis and other frugivorous bats.
迄今为止,利用粒子图像测速法(PIV)对飞行中的蝙蝠进行的唤醒测量仅研究了三种蝙蝠物种,均为水果和花蜜食者。在这项研究中,我们提出了第一个关于食虫蝙蝠的尾迹结构分析。巴西游离尾蝠(Tadarida brasiliensis)是一种空中猎手,每年都会进行长距离迁徙,并且在形态上与之前研究的物种明显不同。我们将 T. brasiliensis 的空气动力学特性与其他食果蝙蝠以及普通雨燕(Apus apus)进行了比较,雨燕是一种翅膀形态、运动学和飞行生态学与这些蝙蝠相似的鸟类。比较表明,在所评估的速度范围内,与翅膀拍打相关的气动力量的周期性模式在 T. brasiliensis 和 A. apus 之间比在 T. brasiliensis 和其他食果蝙蝠之间更相似。