ArticleBiology letters2013
Constraints on muscle performance provide a novel explanation for the scaling of posture in terrestrial animals.
Article in Biology letters, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 23 papers.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
23 citing papers in PubMed.
- Optimizing energetics of lateral undulatory locomotion: unveiling morphological adaptations in different environments.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2025Article
- Beyond power limits: the kinetic energy capacity of skeletal muscle.The Journal of experimental biology · 2024Review
- Optimal Gearing of Musculoskeletal Systems.Integrative and comparative biology · 2024Article
- Dynamic similarity and the peculiar allometry of maximum running speed.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Evaluating The Precocial-altricial Axis of Motor Skill at Birth in A Preterm Pig Model.Integrative and comparative biology · 2023Article
- A theory of physiological similarity in muscle-driven motion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- The collisional geometry of economical walking predicts human leg and foot segment proportions.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023Article
- Why does the metabolic cost of walking increase on compliant substrates?Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2022Article
- White Paper: An Integrated Perspective on the Causes of Hypometric Metabolic Scaling in Animals.Integrative and comparative biology · 2022Article
- Predictive simulations of running gait reveal a critical dynamic role for the tail in bipedal dinosaur locomotion.Science advances · 2021Article
- Does posture explain the kinematic differences in a grounded running gait between male and female Svalbard rock ptarmigan (Polar biology · 2021Article
- Why are the fastest runners of intermediate size? Contrasting scaling of mechanical demands and muscle supply of work and power.Biology letters · 2020Article
- The scaling or ontogeny of human gait kinetics and walk-run transition: The implications of work vs. peak power minimization.Journal of biomechanics · 2018Article
- The influence of speed and size on avian terrestrial locomotor biomechanics: Predicting locomotion in extinct theropod dinosaurs.PloS one · 2018Article
- Article
- Measuring the Energy of Ventilation and Circulation during Human Walking using Induced Hypoxia.Scientific reports · 2017Article
- The muscle-mechanical compromise framework: Implications for the scaling of gait and posture.Journal of human kinetics · 2016Article
- Take-off speed in jumping mantises depends on body size and a power-limited mechanism.The Journal of experimental biology · 2016Article
- Locomotor preferences in terrestrial vertebrates: An online crowdsourcing approach to data collection.Scientific reports · 2016Article
- Ontogeny of sex differences in the energetics and kinematics of terrestrial locomotion in leghorn chickens (Gallus gallus domesticus).Scientific reports · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
- Commented on by
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
Abstract
Larger terrestrial animals tend to support their weight with more upright limbs. This makes structural sense, reducing the loading on muscles and bones, which is disproportionately challenging in larger animals. However, it does not account for why smaller animals are more crouched; instead, they could enjoy relatively more slender supporting structures or higher safety factors. Here, an alternative account for the scaling of posture is proposed, with close parallels to the scaling of jump performance. If the costs of locomotion are related to the volume of active muscle, and the active muscle volume required depends on both the work and the power demanded during the push-off phase of each step (not just the net positive work), then the disproportional scaling of requirements for work and push-off power are revealing. Larger animals require relatively greater active muscle volumes for dynamically similar gaits (e.g. top walking speed)-which may present an ultimate constraint to the size of running animals. Further, just as for jumping, animals with shorter legs and briefer push-off periods are challenged to provide the power (not the work) required for push-off. This can be ameliorated by having relatively long push-off periods, potentially accounting for the crouched stance of small animals.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.