Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

Physiology

Exercise and reduced muscle mass in starlings

Abstract

Muscles are often viewed as force- producing structures that increase or decrease in size according to their activity1,2. But an increased muscle mass, although desirable for extra power, may also impose unwanted costs. Here we show that flight-muscle mass in starlings induced to perform more take-off flights actually decreases as a result of exercise. Our findings indicate that birds can strategically regulate a lower muscle mass to make themselves lighter and so cut flying costs without compromising their flight performance. This suggets that muscle size may be influenced by factors other than workload.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Morphological responses to exercise.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Holloszy, J. O. & Coyle, E. F. J. Appl. Physiol. 56, 831–838 ( 1984).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Gaunt, A. S., Hikida, R. S., Jehl, J. & Fembert, L. Auk 107, 649–659 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Marsh, R. L. Physiol. Zool. 57, 105–117 (1984).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Austin, J. E. & Fredrickson, L. H. Auk 104, 694–699 (1987).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Driedzic, W. R., Crowe, H. L., Hicklin, P. W. & Sephton, D. H. Can. J. Zool. 71, 1602–1608 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. O'Connor, T. P. J. Comp. Physiol. B 165, 298–305 (1995).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Brown, R. E. & Saunders, D. K. Can. J. Zool. 76 , 26–32 (1998).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Swaddle, J. P. & Witter, M. S. Can. J. Zool. 75, 1135–1146 (1997).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Rosser, B. W. C. & George, J. C. Can. J. Zool. 64, 1174–1185 ( 1986).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Witter, M. S. & Cuthill, I. C. Phil. Trans. R. Soc. Lond. B 340, 73–90 ( 1993).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Helms, C. W. & Drury, W. H. Bird Band 31, 1–40 (1960).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Biewener, A. A., Dial, K. P. & Goslow, G. E. J. Exp. Biol. 164, 1– 18 (1992).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew A. Biewener.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Swaddle, J., Biewener, A. Exercise and reduced muscle mass in starlings . Nature 406, 585–586 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1038/35020695

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/35020695

This article is cited by

Comments

By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing