Dear MARMAM colleagues,
We are pleased to announce a new publication in describe and
compare in detail two on-animal sensing methods sensors that can
track biomechanical swimming parameters including changes in gait
during cetacean diving, enabling studies of swimming energetics in
wild animals.
Martı́n López, L. M., Aguilar de Soto, N., Miller, P. and
Johnson, M. (2016). Tracking the kinematics of caudal-oscillatory
swimming: a comparison of two on-animal sensing methods. J. Exp.
Biol. 219, 12103-2109.
*Abstract*
Studies
of locomotion kinematics require high-resolution information
about body movements and the specific acceleration (SA) that
these generate. On-animal accelerometers measure both
orientation and SA but an additional orientation sensor is
needed to accurately separate these. Although gyroscopes can
perform this function, their power consumption, drift and
complex data processing make them unattractive for biologging.
Lower power magnetometers can also be used with some
limitations. Here, we present an integrated and simplified
method for estimating body rotations and SA applicable to both
gyroscopes and magnetometers, enabling a direct comparison of
these two sensors.We use a tag with both sensors to
demonstrate how caudal-oscillation rate and SA are adjusted by
a diving whale in response to rapidly changing buoyancy forces
as the lungs compress while descending. The two sensors gave
similar estimates of the dynamic forces, demonstrating that
magnetometers may offer a simpler low-power alternative for
miniature tags in some applications.
The
article can be found at:
http://jeb.biologists.org/content/219/14/2103
If you do not have access to the journal, please contact me for a
PDF at:
lmml2@st-andrews.ac.uk
Kind regards,
Lucía Martina Martín López and co-authors.
-- Lucía Martina Martín López, PhD student Sea Mammal Research Unit Scottish Oceans Institute University of St Andrews KY16 8LB, Fife Scotland, UK lmml2@st-andrews.ac.uk http://soundtags.st-andrews.ac.uk/people/lucia-martin-lopez/