Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31399734›Full record

ArticleIntegrative and comparative biology2019

Why do Large Animals Never Actuate Their Jumps with Latch-Mediated Springs? Because They can Jump Higher Without Them.

Gregory P Sutton, Elizabeth Mendoza, Emanuel Azizi, Sarah J Longo, Jeffrey P Olberding, Mark Ilton, Sheila N Patek

Erratum issuedOpen access · hybridAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Integrative and comparative biology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 31 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
31citing papers in PubMed
3.0field-weighted citation impact, top 9% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

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.

2 · The registry

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.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

31 citing papers in PubMed, 71 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. The Unilateral Jumping Structures of the Spotted Lanternfly,Biomimetics (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025
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  6. Review
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  11. Jumping Performance and Behavior of the Globular SpringtailIntegrative organismal biology (Oxford, England) · 2024
    Article
  12. Article
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  14. A theory of physiological similarity in muscle-driven motion.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Review
  17. Control of high-speed jumps: the rotation and energetics of the locust (Schistocerca gregaria).Journal of comparative physiology. B, Biochemical, systemic, and environmental physiology · 2023
    Article
  18. Adapting small jumping robots to compliant environments.Journal of the Royal Society, Interface · 2023
    Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

7 authors at 4 institutions in 2 countries.

Gregory P SuttonSchool of Life Sciences, University of Lincoln, Lincoln, UK.
Elizabeth MendozaSchool of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
Emanuel AziziSchool of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
Sarah J LongoBiology Department, Duke University, Durham, NC.
Jeffrey P OlberdingSchool of Biological Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA.
Mark IltonDepartment of Physics, Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, CA.
Sheila N PatekBiology Department, Duke University, Durham, NC.
University of California, Irvine · USDuke University · USHarvey Mudd College · USUniversity of Lincoln · GB

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

As animals get smaller, their ability to generate usable work from muscle contraction is decreased by the muscle's force-velocity properties, thereby reducing their effective jump height. Very small animals use a spring-actuated system, which prevents velocity effects from reducing available energy. Since force-velocity properties reduce the usable work in even larger animals, why don't larger animals use spring-actuated jumping systems as well? We will show that muscle length-tension properties limit spring-actuated systems to generating a maximum one-third of the possible work that a muscle could produce-greatly restricting the jumping height of spring-actuated jumpers. Thus a spring-actuated jumping animal has a jumping height that is one-third of the maximum possible jump height achievable were 100% of the possible muscle work available. Larger animals, which could theoretically use all of the available muscle energy, have a maximum jumping height that asymptotically approaches a value that is about three times higher than that of spring-actuated jumpers. Furthermore, a size related "crossover point" is evident for these two jumping mechanisms: animals smaller than this point can jump higher with a spring-actuated mechanism, while animals larger than this point can jump higher with a muscle-actuated mechanism. We demonstrate how this limit on energy storage is a consequence of the interaction between length-tension properties of muscles and spring stiffness. We indicate where this crossover point occurs based on modeling and then use jumping data from the literature to validate that larger jumping animals generate greater jump heights with muscle-actuated systems than spring-actuated systems.

Indexed as

AnimalsBiomechanical PhenomenaKineticsLocomotionModels, BiologicalMuscle Contraction

Identifiers

PMID31399734
PMCPMC6907395
OpenAlexW2968126151

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

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.