Meeting Abstract
We tested the hypothesis that surface diameter influenced the jumping ability of two gecko species. We hypnotized that narrower diameter dowels would negatively affect the maximum distance geckos can jump, as well as other kinematic variables. Our experimental data included dowels of varying diameter between 1 cm and 5 cm, and we were able to record 3-4 good jumps per animal. In all, we were able to obtain data from nine lizards form these two species,all of which were marked on their body using nontoxic paint. We used a custom-made jumping apparatus. Two sides of the structure were secured with Plexiglas walls to prevent the gecko from escaping and the other sides allowed us to place the gecko on the dowel.Each gecko was placed on one of the two dowels and was encouraged to jump by a tap on the base of their tail. Each jump was recorded at 500 f/s with a Photron 1280 PCI high-speed video camera. We calculated several variables:(1)jump distance, the distance traveled of a mark labeled on the gecko from rest to landing;(2)takeoff angle, the angle between the shoulder and pelvis girdle and the horizon just after the feet left the dowel,(3)landing angle, the angle between the same line and the horizon when any of the gecko’s feet first touch the landing surface;and(4)takeoff speed, speed traveled during the last five frames of takeoff. We found no significant effect of dowel size on jump distance within species. Further, there seemed to be little impact of dowel size on takeoff or landing angle. However, we found some effects of dowel diameter on takeoff duration within gargoyle geckos.The two species also displayed some differences in their jumping performance.
