spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif spacer gif
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


spacer gif
     Home     Help     Feedback     Subscriptions     Archive     Search     Table of Contents    

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Lighton, JRB.
Right arrow Articles by Feener Jr, D. H.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow Articles by Lighton, JRB.
Right arrow Articles by Feener Jr, D. H.

Journal of Experimental Biology, Vol 181, Issue 1 49-62, Copyright © 1993 by Company of Biologists

JOURNAL ARTICLES

THE ENERGETICS OF LOCOMOTION AND LOAD CARRIAGE IN THE DESERT HARVESTER ANT POGONOMYRMEX RUGOSUS

JRB. Lighton, J. A. Weier and D. H. Feener Jr

The locomotion and load carriage energetics of the southwestern American harvester ant, Pogonomyrmex rugosus, were quantified at several temperatures within their normal foraging temperature range using a voluntary locomotion regime ('running tube respirometer'). In a metabolic rate (MR) versus running speed regression, the intercepts for the individual ants differed significantly, so data were evaluated using analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) rather than the more common pooling of individuals. Unladen cost of transport was 158 J kg-1 m-1. The mean y-axis intercept did not differ significantly from zero after temperature-corrected standard MR (SMR) had been subtracted from MR; i.e. the y-axis intercept was not elevated above SMR. When the data were pooled, standard tests of the cost of load carriage showed that the costs of load and body carriage were statistically equivalent. However, using ANCOVA to regress MR-SMR against the product of running speed and load ratio showed that the cost of load carriage in P. rugosus is approximately 40 % lower per unit mass than is the cost of body mass carriage (load ratio range 1.06-2.27). General methods are developed and described for evaluating and predicting locomotion and load carriage costs in small insects using data spanning a variety of temperatures and load ratios.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
H. Pontzer
Effective limb length and the scaling of locomotor cost in terrestrial animals
J. Exp. Biol., May 15, 2007; 210(10): 1752 - 1761.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
P. A. Fleming and P. W. Bateman
Just drop it and run: the effect of limb autotomy on running distance and locomotion energetics of field crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus)
J. Exp. Biol., April 15, 2007; 210(8): 1446 - 1454.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
A. Lipp, H. Wolf, and F.-O. Lehmann
Walking on inclines: energetics of locomotion in the ant Camponotus
J. Exp. Biol., February 15, 2005; 208(4): 707 - 719.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 J. Exp. Biol.Home page
J. R. B. Lighton and R. J. Turner
Thermolimit respirometry: an objective assessment of critical thermal maxima in two sympatric desert harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex rugosus and P. californicus
J. Exp. Biol., May 1, 2004; 207(11): 1903 - 1913.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


© The Company of Biologists Ltd 1993