Data from: Burst muscle performance predicts the speed, acceleration, and turning performance of Anna's hummingbirds

Despite recent advances in the study of animal flight, the biomechanical
determinants of maneuverability are poorly understood. It is thought that
maneuverability may be influenced by intrinsic body mass and wing
morphology, and by physiological muscle capacity, but this hypothesis has
not yet been evaluated because it requires tracking a large number of free
flight maneuvers from known individuals. We used an automated tracking
system to record flight sequences from 20 Anna's hummingbirds flying
solo and in competition in a large chamber. We found that burst muscle
capacity predicted most performance metrics. Hummingbirds with higher
burst capacity flew with faster velocities, accelerations, and rotations,
and they used more demanding complex turns. In contrast, body mass did not
predict variation in maneuvering performance, and wing morphology
predicted only the use of arcing turns and high centripetal accelerations.
Collectively, our results indicate that burst muscle capacity is a key
predictor of maneuverability.

尽管动物飞行研究近年来已取得诸多进展，但机动性的生物力学决定因素仍未得到充分阐释。此前学界认为，机动性或受固有体质量、翼形态以及肌肉生理机能的影响，但这一假说尚未得到验证——因为该验证需要对已知个体的大量自由飞行机动动作进行追踪。本研究采用自动化追踪系统，在大型实验舱内记录了20只安娜蜂鸟（Anna's Hummingbird）单独飞行及竞争性飞行的飞行序列。研究结果显示，肌肉爆发能力可预测绝大多数飞行性能指标：肌肉爆发能力更强的蜂鸟，其飞行速度、加速度及旋转角速度均更高，且会采用复杂度更高的转向动作。与之相反，体质量无法预测机动性表现的差异，而翼形态仅能预测弧形转向及高向心加速度的使用情况。综合来看，本研究结果表明，肌肉爆发能力是机动性的关键预测因子。