Meeting Abstract

P1.71  Saturday, Jan. 4 15:30  Physiological Constraints of Flight Performance in Neotropical Birds CONDELL, K/L*; ROBINSON, W/D; MOORE, R/P; STRATFORD, J/A; ROURKE, B/C; California State University Long Beach; Oregon State University; Oregon State University; Wilkes University; California State University Long Beach klcondell@gmail.com

The neotropics are a hotspot for plant and animal diversity. As forests are cleared for human development, habitats are becoming increasingly fragmented, which is detrimental to many species. Birds are typically considered to be some of the most mobile animals, but evidence is emerging that an inability to cross gaps between habitats may limit colonization and dispersal. Contractile protein composition of the flight muscle may dictate flight ability and endurance, as some muscles are limited to short bursts and others are suited to long bouts of activity. We examine flight muscle (pectoralis major) and cardiac muscle of eight common species of birds from Panama using SDS-PAGE to detect differences in myosin heavy chain isoform expression. Species with poor flight ability and those with stronger flight ability have previously been identified, and correlations are then made between flight muscle physiology and observed limitations of flight distance (Moore et al. 2008).