Prof John Speakman, Department of Zoology, University of Aberdeen, research interests and recent publications. Downloadable programs 1. See user guide for setup information Clustan file auxilliary file userguide basica 2.
Flight is one of the most energetically expensive activities for animals to perform.
Knowledge of flight energy demands is therefore important in furthering our understanding of the evolution of flight and flight morphology, in the construction of time and energy budgets for animals which fly and in determining the limits of endurance for flying animals. The energy costs of vocalisation in animals has been a matter for some recent debate. Bird song is generally produced rather intermittently whilst echolocation calls of animals are produced more continuously. In addition the energy content of echolocation calls is sustained at very high levels for prolonged periods. These results indicated that for a stationary bat the costs of echolocation are very high.