Skip to main content
bioRxiv
  • Home
  • About
  • Submit
  • ALERTS / RSS
Advanced Search
New Results

Universal scaling of maximum speed with body mass - Why the largest animals are not the fastest

Myriam R. Hirt, Walter Jetz, Bjöern C. Rall, Ulrich Brose
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/095018
Myriam R. Hirt
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
2Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger-Str. 159, 07743, Jena, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Walter Jetz
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
3Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University, 165 Prospect Street, New Haven, 06511 Connecticut, United States of America
4Department of Life Sciences, Imperial College London, Silwood Park, Ascot, United Kingdom
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Bjöern C. Rall
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
2Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger-Str. 159, 07743, Jena, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Ulrich Brose
1German Centre for Integrative Biodiversity Research (iDiv) Halle-Jena-Leipzig, Deutscher Platz 5e, 04103, Leipzig, Germany
2Institute of Ecology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Dornburger-Str. 159, 07743, Jena, Germany
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • For correspondence: myriam.hirt@idiv.de
  • Abstract
  • Full Text
  • Info/History
  • Metrics
  • Supplementary material
  • Preview PDF
Loading

Abstract

Speed is the fundamental constraint on animal movement, yet there is no general consensus on the determinants of maximum speed itself. Here, we provide a universal scaling model of maximum speed with body mass, which holds across locomotion modes, ecosystem types and taxonomic groups. In contrast to traditional power-law scaling, we predict a hump-shaped relationship due to a finite acceleration time for animals. This model is strongly supported by extensive empirical data (470 species with body masses ranging from 5.7×10−8 to 108,000 kg) from terrestrial as well as aquatic ecosystems. Our approach offers a novel concept of what determines the upper limit of animal movement, thus enabling a better understanding of realized movement patterns in nature and their multifold ecological consequences.

Copyright 
The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
Back to top
PreviousNext
Posted December 17, 2016.
Download PDF

Supplementary Material

Email

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word about bioRxiv.

NOTE: Your email address is requested solely to identify you as the sender of this article.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Universal scaling of maximum speed with body mass - Why the largest animals are not the fastest
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from bioRxiv
(Your Name) thought you would like to see this page from the bioRxiv website.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Share
Universal scaling of maximum speed with body mass - Why the largest animals are not the fastest
Myriam R. Hirt, Walter Jetz, Bjöern C. Rall, Ulrich Brose
bioRxiv 095018; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/095018
Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo LinkedIn logo Mendeley logo
Citation Tools
Universal scaling of maximum speed with body mass - Why the largest animals are not the fastest
Myriam R. Hirt, Walter Jetz, Bjöern C. Rall, Ulrich Brose
bioRxiv 095018; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/095018

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Subject Area

  • Ecology
Subject Areas
All Articles
  • Animal Behavior and Cognition (3583)
  • Biochemistry (7537)
  • Bioengineering (5491)
  • Bioinformatics (20717)
  • Biophysics (10272)
  • Cancer Biology (7944)
  • Cell Biology (11604)
  • Clinical Trials (138)
  • Developmental Biology (6577)
  • Ecology (10155)
  • Epidemiology (2065)
  • Evolutionary Biology (13565)
  • Genetics (9509)
  • Genomics (12806)
  • Immunology (7899)
  • Microbiology (19487)
  • Molecular Biology (7631)
  • Neuroscience (41957)
  • Paleontology (307)
  • Pathology (1253)
  • Pharmacology and Toxicology (2188)
  • Physiology (3255)
  • Plant Biology (7017)
  • Scientific Communication and Education (1292)
  • Synthetic Biology (1945)
  • Systems Biology (5415)
  • Zoology (1110)