Meeting Abstract
The pace of avian migration is heavily determined by the time required to recover from long duration flights in order to prepare for the next. Long duration flight results in significant losses of both lean (ie. protein) mass and fat mass, which are recovered in a bi-phasic pattern where lean mass is recovered before fat can be deposited. While the recovery of metabolically active lean mass can improve physiological function such as digestion, which is necessary for refueling, lean mass recovery may also increase already high mass-specific resting metabolism, impeding fat deposition rates. Few studies have examined the dynamics of metabolism following long duration flight and how it relates to lean mass gain and total energy balance. Here, we use whole-animal metabolic phenotyping, food consumption, digestive physiology, and real-time body mass measurements to determine the dynamics of metabolism and energy balance for 72-hours before and after a 6-hour wind tunnel flight in the yellow-rumped warbler (Setophaga coronata). We predicted that yellow-rumped warblers would have lower metabolic rates following flight due to the loss of lean mass associated with flight, but would also depress mass-specific metabolic rates to accelerate the rate of mass gain. The metabolic phenotyping system captured diurnal patterns in metabolic rate and fuel mixture with high time resolution, enabling precise quantification of metabolism and its relation to food intake and mass change before and after long duration flight.
