D5 Flight Respirometry

Title

D5 describes open flow costometry in an ornithological wind tunnel as a method to directly measure metabolic power during flight. The bird flies under controlled conditions while O consumption and CO production are measured; From these gases, both the total metabolic power and the energy substrate used (fat vs. carbohydrate vs. protein, discriminated by the respiratory quotient RQ) are obtained. Comparison of the measured P_met(V) curve with the model prediction of E12E13 allows calibrating the species-specific parameters of the simulator (_mec, C_D_body, etc.) and detecting anomalies: a higher than expected P_met indicates muscle damage (A4) or tendon inefficiency (A5); an RQ deviating towards 0.80.9 indicates the beginning of protein catabolism (A7). D5 is also the calibration method for D9 (cardiac telemetry): the f_cP_met relationship is established with tunnel respiration before deploying the recorder in the field.

ID:4225