Kinematics and hydrodynamics analysis of swimming anurans reveals striking inter-specific differences in the mechanism for producing thrust

The Journal of Experimental Biology
Christopher T Richards

Abstract

This study aimed to compare the swimming kinematics and hydrodynamics within and among aquatic and semi-aquatic/terrestrial frogs. High-speed video was used to obtain kinematics of the leg joints and feet as animals swam freely across their natural range of speeds. Blade element analysis was then used to model the hydrodynamic thrust as a function of foot kinematics. Two purely aquatic frogs, Xenopus laevis and Hymenochirus boettgeri, were compared with two semi-aquatic/terrestrial frogs, Rana pipiens and Bufo americanus. The four species performed similarly. Among swimming strokes, peak stroke velocity ranged from 3.3+/-1.1 to 20.9+/-2.5, from 6.8+/-2.1 to 28.6+/-3.7 and from 4.9+/-0.5 to 20.9+/-4.1 body lengths per second (BL s(-1)) in X. laevis, H. boettgeri and R. pipiens, respectively (means +/- s.d.; N=4 frogs for each). B. americanus swam much more slowly at 3.1+/-0.3 to 7.0+/-2.0 BL s(-1) (N=3 frogs). Time-varying joint kinematics patterns were superficially similar among species. Because foot kinematics result from the cumulative motion of joints proximal to the feet, small differences in time-varying joint kinematics among species resulted in species-specific foot kinematics (therefore hydrodynamics) patterns. To obta...Continue Reading

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Citations

Nov 2, 2013·Nature Communications·Christofer J Clemente, Christopher Richards
May 17, 2013·Journal of the Royal Society, Interface·Christopher T Richards, Christofer J Clemente
Sep 17, 2011·Journal of Theoretical Biology·Robert W Whittlesey
May 27, 2015·Zoology : Analysis of Complex Systems, ZACS·Nicole Danos, Emanuel Azizi
Aug 18, 2012·Journal of Theoretical Biology·Christopher T Richards, Gregory S Sawicki
Nov 4, 2016·The Journal of Experimental Biology·M J McHenryS N Patek
Jan 20, 2017·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Vivien LouppeAnthony Herrel
Oct 7, 2016·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Henry C Astley
Feb 22, 2012·Bioinspiration & Biomimetics·Christopher T Richards, Christofer J Clemente
May 14, 2020·Soft Robotics·Jizhuang FanYanhe Zhu
Jun 27, 2020·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Kari R Taylor-Burt, Andrew A Biewener
Jun 24, 2011·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Christopher T Richards
Sep 6, 2014·The Journal of Experimental Biology·Pavla Robovska-HavelkovaAnthony Herrel

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