Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39676590›Full record

ArticleThe Journal of experimental biology2025

Behavior and biomechanics: flapping frequency during tandem and solo flights of cliff swallows.

Sophia Chizhikova, Laura X Mendez, Tyson L Hedrick

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in The Journal of experimental biology, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

3 authors.

Sophia ChizhikovaDepartment of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27510, USA.
Laura X MendezDepartment of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27510, USA.
Tyson L HedrickDepartment of Biology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27510, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-6573-9602

Funding

Directorate for Biological Sciences IOS 1253276Directorate for Biological Sciences IOS-1253276National Science Foundation IOS-1253276Office of Naval Research MURI N000141010952Office of Naval Research Global MURI N000141010952University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Aerodynamic models of bird flight, assuming power minimization, predict a quadratic relationship (i.e. U-shaped curve) between flapping frequency and airspeed. This relationship is supported by experimental bird flight data from wind tunnels, but the degree to which it characterizes natural flight, and the extent to which birds might modify it to accommodate other behaviors, is less known. We hypothesized that the U-shaped relationship would vary or vanish when minimizing power is not a primary consideration. We analyzed videos of wild cliff swallows (Petrochelidon pyrrhonota) engaged in solo and tandem (i.e. following or being followed by a conspecific) flights to collect bird flapping frequencies and airspeeds. Solo birds had a U-shaped flapping frequency to speed relationship. Birds engaged in tandem flights had the opposite pattern; their flapping frequencies varied with speed as an inverse U-shaped curve and were up to 2.1 times higher than solo birds at the same speed.

Indexed as

Flight, AnimalSwallowsAnimalsBehavior, AnimalBiomechanical PhenomenaVideo RecordingWings, AnimalBiomechanicsBirdsKinematicsLocomotionWingbeat frequency

Identifiers

PMID39676590
PMCPMC11708819

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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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.