Evidence map›Paper›PMID 39973544›Full record

ArticleBiology open2025

Deciphering the flapping frequency allometry: unveiling the role of sustained body attitude in the aerodynamic scaling of normal hovering animals.

Jeremy Pohly, Chang-Kwon Kang, Hikaru Aono

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Biology open, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing 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

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

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.

Jeremy PohlyDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama 35899, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-9869-3014
Chang-Kwon KangDepartment of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, University of Alabama in Huntsville, Huntsville, Alabama 35899, USA.ORCID 0000-0001-9353-4519
Hikaru AonoDepartment of Mechanical Engineering and Robotics, Shinshu University, Ueda, Nagano 3868567, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-2427-0833

Funding

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science JP22H01397National Science Foundation CMMI-1761618Shinshu University
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Hovering flight helps facilitate feeding, pollination, and courtship. Observed only in smaller flying animals, hover kinematic characteristics are diverse except for the decreasing flapping frequency with the animal size. Although studies have shown that these wing patterns enable distinct unsteady aerodynamic mechanisms, the role of flapping frequency scaling remains a source of disagreement. Here we show that negative allometry of the flapping frequency is required to sustain body attitude during hovering, consistent with experimental data of hovering animals, from fruit flies to hummingbirds, reported in the literature. The derived scaling model reveals that the lift coefficient and reduced frequency remain invariant with mass, enabling leading-edge vortex formation and wake-capture for a wide range of fliers to hover.

Indexed as

BirdsFlight, AnimalWings, AnimalAnimalsBiomechanical PhenomenaBody SizeModels, BiologicalAnimal flightNormal hoveringScaling

Identifiers

PMID39973544
PMCPMC11928051

What OpenQuestion holds

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LicenceCC BY
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Registered trials

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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.