Linked Life Data

18552294

Source:http://linkedlifedata.com/resource/pubmed/id/18552294

Statements in which the resource exists as a subject.
PredicateObject
rdf:type
lifeskim:mentions
pubmed:issue
Pt 13
pubmed:dateCreated
2008-6-16
pubmed:abstractText
Bipedal locomotion by lizards has previously been considered to provide a locomotory advantage. We examined this premise for a group of quadrupedal Australian agamid lizards, which vary in the extent to which they will become bipedal. The percentage of strides that each species ran bipedally, recorded using high speed video cameras, was positively related to body size and the proximity of the body centre of mass to the hip, and negatively related to running endurance. Speed was not higher for bipedal strides, compared with quadrupedal strides, in any of the four species, but acceleration during bipedal strides was significantly higher in three of four species. Furthermore, a distinct threshold between quadrupedal and bipedal strides, was more evident for acceleration than speed, with a threshold in acceleration above which strides became bipedal. We calculated these thresholds using probit analysis, and compared these to the predicted threshold based on the model of Aerts et al. Although there was a general agreement in order, the acceleration thresholds for lizards were often lower than that predicted by the model. We suggest that bipedalism, in Australian agamid lizards, may have evolved as a simple consequence of acceleration, and does not confer any locomotory advantage for increasing speed or endurance. However, both behavioural and threshold data suggest that some lizards actively attempt to run bipedally, implying some unknown advantage to bipedal locomotion.
pubmed:language
eng
pubmed:journal
pubmed:citationSubset
IM
pubmed:status
MEDLINE
pubmed:month
Jul
pubmed:issn
0022-0949
pubmed:author
pubmed:issnType
Print
pubmed:volume
211
pubmed:owner
NLM
pubmed:authorsComplete
Y
pubmed:pagination
2058-65
pubmed:dateRevised
2010-11-18
pubmed:meshHeading
pubmed:year
2008
pubmed:articleTitle
Why go bipedal? Locomotion and morphology in Australian agamid lizards.
pubmed:affiliation
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge, UK. cc498@cam.ac.uk
pubmed:publicationType
Journal Article, Comparative Study