Bird Migration and Endurance Building
Scientists Unravel the Mysteries of Amazing Stamina by Birds
Mar 29, 2009
Amazing details about how birds choose the right kind of food to gain endurance for their taxing long distance flight is pouring in. Jean-Michel Weber, a biologist at the University of Ottawa in Canada and associates Nagahuedi, Popesku and Trudeau decided to take a closer look at this wonderful phenomenon. The chosen subject for their study was the tiny Sandpiper (Calidris pusilla). The birds regularly undertake a flight of 3000 km from Canadian Arctic to the South American coast as part of their migration. 3 days of nonstop flight over open seas is part of the journey. This is an amazing feat of endurance from the small birds.
Preparation for the Migratory Flight
The birds instinctively prepare for the arduous flight. With the onset of shortening days hormonal changes occur in the birds and as a response to this the birds’ guts start to grow bigger. This induces more eating. This in turn stimulate them to go in for more flights, which has the effect of building up their pectoral muscles. Just before the onset of migration proper, the sandpipers make a stopover at the Bay of Fundy on Canada's eastern coast and gorge on mud shrimp (Corophium volutator ). Mud Shrimp is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids. Within a short period of two weeks this frantic eating doubles the sandpiper’s body weight.
A Closer look
Weber decided to take a closer look at this phenomenon of doubling of body weight within a short period of two weeks and how it affects the birds’ migration. He observed that omega-3 fatty acids in the shrimp made sandpipers' muscles use oxygen more efficiently. Weber suspected that this in turn had the effect of directly boosting the birds’ endurance.
Making Sure that the Inferences are Right
To make his hypothesis stand scientific scrutiny Webber undertook another study. He and his associates turned their attention to Bobwhite Quail (Colinus virginianus), a sedentary bird that doesn't migrate and doesn’t fly much. For 6 weeks, the scientists fed them a combination of omega-3 fatty acids from fish oil.
The scientists were amazed to observe that oxidative capacity of the birds had shot up 58% to 90% within this short span. This clearly outpaced results of 10 weeks of endurance training for a horse and 7 weeks for human beings. Top human athletes can improve their oxidative capacity only by 38% to 76% after 7 weeks of arduous training.By just changing diet the scientists had doubled the oxidative capacity of Bobwhite Quail. This exactly mirrored the increase observed in sandpipers just before they start their migration.
Future Course of Research
Webber is now fully convinced that the shrimp diet is responsible for the birds’ phenomenal stamina. He is excited and now wants to unravel the physiological aspect of how the birds increase their oxidative enzyme activity levels. It could have spin off effect for humans also. In humans, omega-3 fatty acids reduce the risk of coronary heart disease and has ameliorating effect on depression.
References
Nagahuedi, S., Popesku, J. T., Trudeau, V. L. and Weber, J.-M. (2009). Mimicking the natural doping of migrant sandpipers in sedentary quails: effects of dietary n-3 fatty acids on muscle membranes and PPAR expression. J. Exp. Biol. 212,1106 - First published online March 27, 2009
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