The physiology of long-distance migration: extending the limits of endurance metabolism

@article{Weber2009ThePO,
  title={The physiology of long-distance migration: extending the limits of endurance metabolism},
  author={Jean-Michel Weber},
  journal={Journal of Experimental Biology},
  year={2009},
  volume={212},
  pages={593 - 597}
}
  • J. Weber
  • Published 1 March 2009
  • Biology
  • Journal of Experimental Biology
SUMMARY Long-distance migrants have evolved specific adaptations that make their athletic records possible. Unique mechanisms explaining their amazing capacity for endurance exercise have now been uncovered, particularly with respect to energy storage, mobilization, transport and utilization. Birds are champions of migration because flying offers a key compromise: it allows more rapid movement than swimming, but has a lower cost of transport than running. High efficiency for muscle contraction… 
View on Publisher
jeb.biologists.org
147 Citations
Highly Influential Citations
12
Background Citations
62
Methods Citations
1
Results Citations
1

Figures from this paper

147 Citations

Citation Type

Citation Type

Move that fatty acid: fuel selection and transport in migratory birds and bats.
  • C. Guglielmo
  • Biology, Environmental Science
    Integrative and comparative biology
  • 2010
TLDR
Migratory bats provide an interesting example of evolutionary convergence with birds, which may provide evidence for the generality of the bird model to the evolution of migration by flight in vertebrates.
Energy metabolism during endurance flight and the post-flight recovery phase
Migrating birds are known to fly non-stop for thousands of kilometres without food or water intake and at a high metabolic rate thereby relying on energy stores which were built up preceding a flight…
Obese super athletes: fat-fueled migration in birds and bats
  • C. Guglielmo
  • Biology, Environmental Science
    Journal of Experimental Biology
  • 2018
TLDR
Migratory birds and bats have exceptional abilities to use fat as a fuel for high intensity exercise (flight) and this Review examines fat storage and use in these amazing endurance specialists.
Metabolic plasticity for subcutaneous fat accumulation in a long-distance migratory bird traced by 2H2O
TLDR
A novel and non-lethal tracer method using deuterated water revealed alteration in lipid metabolism of migrant black-tailed godwits subjected to different diets, revealing the capacity of this species to alter its lipid metabolism to compensate for a poorer dietary lipid contribution.
Dietary lipid composition and avian migratory flight performance: Development of a theoretical framework for avian fat storage.
  • E. R. Price
  • Biology
    Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part A, Molecular & integrative physiology
  • 2010
Selective upregulation of lipid metabolism in skeletal muscle of foraging juvenile king penguins: an integrative study
TLDR
The present integrative study shows that fuel selection towards lipid oxidation characterizes penguin acclimatization to marine life and may involve thyroid hormones through their nuclear beta receptor and nuclear coactivators.
Dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids influence flight muscle oxidative capacity but not endurance flight performance in a migratory songbird.
TLDR
Overall, it is found that there is no support for the natural doping hypothesis in a songbird, and it is cautioned against extending changes in flight muscle metabolic enzymes or fatty acid composition to changes to migratory performance without empirical evidence.
Metabolic fuels: regulating fluxes to select mix
  • J. Weber
  • Biology
    Journal of Experimental Biology
  • 2011
TLDR
Long-distance migrants provide an excellent model to characterize how to increase maximal substrate fluxes through the coordinated upregulation of mobilization, transport and oxidation by activating enzymes, lipid-solubilizing proteins and membrane transporters.
Understanding how birds rebuild fat stores during migration: insights from an experimental study
TLDR
The increase of fractional DNL in godwits feeding on a carbohydrate-rich diet can potentially be enhanced by the fasting period that stimulates lipogenesis, and these recent findings provide new insights into the mechanisms of avian fat accumulation during a fasting and refueling cycle.
Energetic and biomechanical constraints on animal migration distance.
TLDR
Data from over 200 species of migratory birds, mammals, fish, and invertebrates support the central conclusion of the model - that body size drives variation in maximum migration distance among species through its effects on metabolism and the cost of locomotion.
...
1
2
3
4
5
...

References

SHOWING 1-10 OF 62 REFERENCES
Fuel supply and metabolic constraints in migrating birds
Lipid mobilization of long-distance migrant birds in vivo: the high lipolytic rate of ruff sandpipers is not stimulated during shivering
TLDR
This study provides the first measurements of lipolytic rate in migrant birds and shows that their capacity for lipid mobilization reaches the highest values measured to date in vertebrates.
Flying, fasting, and feeding in birds during migration: a nutritional and physiological ecology perspective
TLDR
The primary importance of fatty acids for fueling intense exercise in migratory birds is discussed, the likely limiting steps in lipid transport and oxidation for exercising birds and the ecological factors that affect the quality and quantity of fat stored in wild birds are discussed.
Energetics of a long-distance migrant shorebird (Philomachus pugnax) during cold exposure and running
TLDR
Results show that lipid oxidation supplies nearly all the energy necessary to support shivering and running, and that the pattern of oxidative fuel selection is independent of shivering or running intensity.
Endurance swimming activates trout lipoprotein lipase: plasma lipids as a fuel for muscle
TLDR
Red muscle LPL is strongly activated by endurance swimming, rainbow trout have a high reserve capacity for hydrolyzing lipoproteins, and future studies should aim to measure lipoprotein flux because their concentration does not reflect changes in flux.
Performance-enhancing role of dietary fatty acids in a long-distance migrant shorebird: the semipalmated sandpiper
TLDR
This study shows that long-distance migrant birds can (1) use natural diets rich in specific lipids to prime flight muscles for endurance exercise, and (2) modify dietary fatty acids before storing them as fuel.
Relationship between n-3 PUFA content and energy metabolism in the flight muscles of a migrating shorebird: evidence for natural doping
TLDR
It is shown that oxidative capacity increases rapidly during refueling and supports the idea that dietary n-3 PUFA are used as molecular signals to prime flight muscles of some long-distance migrants for extreme exercise.
Seasonal dynamics of flight muscle fatty acid binding protein and catabolic enzymes in a migratory shorebird.
TLDR
An ELISA to measure heart-type fatty acid binding protein (H-FABP) in muscles of the western sandpiper (Calidris mauri), a long-distance migrant shorebird, suggests that endurance flight training may be required to stimulate H-fABP expression.
Migration Takes Guts Digestive Physiology of Migratory Birds and Its Ecological Significance
PHENOTYPIC FLEXIBILITY IN THE digestive system of migratory birds is critically important in allowing birds to successfully overcome the physiological challenges of migration. However, phenotypic…
Insect adipokinetic hormones: release and integration of flight energy metabolism.
  • D. J. Van der Horst
  • Biology
    Comparative biochemistry and physiology. Part B, Biochemistry & molecular biology
  • 2003
...
1
2
3
4
5
...