Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/J005371/1
Energy costs and savings of arboreal locomotion in great apes: measuring a tractable model species, homo sapiens
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor L Halsey, Roehampton University, Life Science
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor SKS Thorpe, University of Birmingham, Sch of Biosciences
- Grant held at:
- Roehampton University, Life Science
- Science Area:
- Terrestrial
- Overall Classification:
- Terrestrial
- ENRIs:
- Biodiversity
- Global Change
- Natural Resource Management
- Science Topics:
- Animal & human physiology
- Animal metabolism
- Animal organisms
- Primates
- Behavioural Ecology
- Development (Biosciences)
- Measurement technology
- Tools for the biosciences
- Calorimetry
- Abstract:
- In recent years researchers have discovered a great deal about the way in which animals move around on flat ground yet little is known about how animals move in complex habitats. The most structurally complex environment on land must be the canopy of tropical rainforests, which presents a three-dimensional meshwork containing unpredictable changes in the continuity and nature of the supports available for locomotion. In this habitat, tree-living animals such as primates must cope with two problems in particular that rarely exist for animals that locomote on the ground: gaps in the canopy and the flexibility (compliance) of the vegetation supports against which they must exert forces to support or propel themselves. These problems are particularly prominent for the large bodied great apes, such as chimpanzees and orang-utans. Yet the problems of obtaining direct measures of energy expenditure of primates in the wild have to date limited understanding of the energetic cost of navigating these complex habitats. In this project professional parkour athletes, who have elite gymnastic abilities, will serve as human models traversing custom-made, simulated jungle terrain. Their consumption of oxygen (a standard method for measuring energy expenditure in the laboratory) and their heat production will be measured. This will allow us to address our two aims: 1) to understand how the relative costs of demanding forms of arboreal locomotion for large-bodied great apes are affected by size and build, the details of the environment being traversed, and knowledge of the route being taken 2) to trial the use of thermal-imaging cameras to ascertain whether measures of the heat given off by the body represent a potentially viable method for estimating energy expenditure during complex locomotion in large-bodied apes in the wild. Enhanced by its presence in blockbuster films and television advertising, parkour is a rapidly developing sport that has recently caught the public eye. It provides an excellent medium through which to communicate the findings of the study. For example, the agility of parkour practitioners bridges the perceived boundaries between primate arboreal locomotion and human terrestrial locomotion, providing a dramatic visual demonstration of the close links that humans have with their evolutionary cousins. Several user groups are likely to benefit from the project findings. The general public, including school children, will learn about great ape ecology and our ancestral heritage. Our results are relevant to the welfare of captive great apes due to the considerable need to increase levels of physical activity to aid physical and psychological wellbeing. By studying which behaviours are the most energetically expensive, we can feed similar locomotor supports and arboreal routes into enclosure design. Finally, testing and developing physical capability is an inherent component of the Parkour athletic discipline and we will produce a document for Parkour Generations that presents the data in a format they can use to inform their training. For example, providing information on how energetic costs change over time with familiarity to a course and how energetic costs are affected by different types of activity on surfaces of differing compliance.
- NERC Reference:
- NE/J005371/1
- Grant Stage:
- Completed
- Scheme:
- Small Grants (FEC)
- Grant Status:
- Closed
- Programme:
- Small Grants
This grant award has a total value of £51,725
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DI - Staff | DA - Estate Costs | DI - T&S | DA - Other Directly Allocated |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £24,249 | £9,123 | £2,034 | £8,586 | £4,006 | £848 | £2,880 |
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