Allometry of the Duration of Flight Feather Molt in Birds |
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| Authors: | Sievert Rohwer Robert E. Ricklefs Vanya G. Rohwer Michelle M. Copple |
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| Affiliation: | 1.Burke Museum and Department of Biology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington, United States of America;2.Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, United States of America;Lund University, Sweden |
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| Abstract: | ![]()
We used allometric scaling to explain why the regular replacement of the primary flight feathers requires disproportionately more time for large birds. Primary growth rate scales to mass (M) as M0.171, whereas the summed length of the primaries scales almost twice as fast (M0.316). The ratio of length (mm) to rate (mm/day), which would be the time needed to replace all the primaries one by one, increases as the 0.14 power of mass (M0.316/M0.171 | |
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